Land of the Midnight Sun
by XxRagnarokxX88
Summary: Sequel to Catalyst. After Shinji's defeat while fighting the sun angel, SEELE makes it's first strike in it's attempt at supressing the greatest problem in their plans for Instrumentality and their World Order, the Angel Girl, Mayumi Yamagishi.
1. Broken

Disclaimer: I do not own the Neon Genesis Evangelion series or hold any rights over the character Mayumi Yamagishi, from the 2nd Impression game thingy. Don't sue, cause I'm already broke.

This is the first chapter of "Land of the Midnight Sun," the second book of "Catalyst," an NGE fan fiction. Enjoy.

**Land of the Midnight Sun**

**"Broken"**

By: XxRagnarokxX88

"There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness"

**- Friedrich Nietzsche**

Oh, the tranquility of a life behind the walls of a fortress. Life has never been good to the young Ikari, at least not in his early childhood, but it seemed to have turned around after his Evangelion had been torn in two. True, he regretted such a humiliating defeat at the hands, or razor arms, of the 'sun angel', but even from that painful blast of positron beam there was a brighter side. In his recuperation, among many other fortunes to come, his bookworm and her sister had moved into his apartment. Aside from the awareness' they each received after seeing each other step out of the shower, it was a pleasure to have them there.

Asuka enjoyed bossing the young boy around, even in his injured state, she loved telling him to go to sleep, claiming that he needed the rest in order to recover from his 'scratches'; and while her outward laugh told the Yamagishi sisters that she enjoyed the control, there was genuine concern for her comrade in her actions. He understood that, but he played along with her and feigned annoyance; it was their thing.

Aiko continued sleeping in Shinji's room, sleeping to his side whenever the young boy would fall asleep and lay her head onto his bandaged chest, much to her sister's dislike. She was definitely the most energetic of the girls Ikari knew, rivaling that of even the great Asuka Langley Soryu. Shinji, even with his insecurities and lack of confidence, admitted that, albeit only to himself, he had grown attached to the girl beyond friendship. He doubted it was the father figure that her mother said he had become, a brother sounded better to him, but he found solace in her presence-- and that was enough.

Mayumi, oh his dearest bookworm, still had not gotten the courage to bring her lips to her boyfriends' once again. The most she would do would be sitting close to him, letting her hand casually cover his own, or, in a move of extreme bravery for her, she would hug him tenderly, making sure to not agitate his wounds. It made her face burn, especially when, in his state of weariness, he would only smile at the floor and then at her, letting her know he felt the same way, without the need for words. It made her heart flutter, a butterfly beneath her ribs. So exhilarating was that simple act that she could even ignore her sister constantly attaching herself to Shinji and Asuka's teasing.

Among the fortunes to come down after the fall of the 'sun angel' was the way school went. Shinji would still go to the top of that hill behind the school and simply relax as the wind swept through his hair, but he would be accompanied by his blue-haired friend. They would hardly talk, but occasionally speak of the picturesque mountainsides that lined the city of Tokyo-3. Rei had flattered him, indirectly of course, by telling him that she was her first friend. He returned the favored indirectly as well by saying, "To tell the truth, your my first real friend too, Rei." For some reason he could not explain, it seemed to make her very happy, happy enough to bring a slight curl on the side of her face. He considered that close enough to a smile.

Touji and Kensuke had been no different than how they were before his absence from school. Kensuke, with his fascination for all things military, had asked how the recent battles had gone. Naturally, Shinji wasn't very enthusiastic about retelling the story, but he did. Kensuke had managed to even get Shinji's 'battle scar' on film, which was nothing more than a slight discoloration of his abdomen and chest. Ritsuko said it wasn't permanent, and he hoped as much. The most interesting development occurred when Shinji had decided to not sit on the hill and had instead sat on the rooftop of the school with Rei. Touji and Kensuke had decided to join Shinji and poof, it was the four of them. Though the idiot duo were not exactly friends with Rei, they had become accustomed to her presence.

The same had happened with Asuka. Since Mayumi and Aiko began living in the Katsuragi household, they, along with Hikari and Mayumi's other friends, had formed a sort of clique. The only exception would be Aiko and Asuka, who, while still friends, had become rivals of sorts. This 'short vs. angry' rivalry, as Touji so eloquently named, was stemmed in Aiko's affection for the male pilot and Asuka's infatuation with Kaji, and had no end in sight.

Misato and Taini were stuck with getting rid of the angel remains and reconstructing the city, respectively. "This isn't fair, I'm a tactician, damn it!"

It was the day before the city reconstruction was to be completed, the night before Mayumi and Aiko would have to go back to their home, and Asuka had taken Mayumi for girl 'stuff'', so he was alone with Aiko, who could not go with them since they would be out past Aiko's curfew, which her mother had clearly told to the redhead.

So the girl sat pouting at the ceiling, her left foot dangling off the couch and her head resting on the couch's arm. Even the fact of her being alone with her invincible Shinji could not stop her from having some resentment about not being able to go with her friends, but it did help some.

Unfortunately, he had left some time ago, promising to bring back something that would help him try and cheer her up. She said, in a somewhat joking way, "You don't have to go, just gimme a little kiss!", but he had left with an "I'll be back" and a blush.

Her ears were filled with a pleasant sound, the twisting of the knob and opening of the door. "Yay! I get a present!" She rushed towards the door and stopped when she saw what it was Shinji brought. "What the...? A violin?"

He took off his shoes and closed the door. "No, it's a cello. I had it in storage, but I decided to bring it here since you said you didn't like my room being so empty."

She placed her hand on the cold wood and felt it's smooth texture. "You know how to play it?"

He sat on the couch and set up the cello, placing his legs on either side of it and feeling the tenseness of the strings. "I wouldn't have it if I couldn't play it. It's kinda old, but it still plays good."

She plopped down on the couch, sitting close to the boy and staring at the string instrument. "Play something for me. I wanna hear how good you are."

"Well, I'm not really that good, and I haven't practiced in a while... but alright." It was his intent to play the instrument, but he like her flattery. It felt comfortable.

Slowly, he began to strum the strings of his cello, playing the melancholy tune with the utmost care, hitting the low pitch with a professional's accuracy. The harmonious notes flowed into the ears of the young girl, causing her to stare at his hands as they strummed the fingerboard's strings. It was a sad song, undoubtedly one he must have played a lot whenever he felt that way. "Shinji... c-could you stop? Your making me cry."

He stopped and looked at the girl to his left, and there was indeed the glossy glaze before tears in her eyes. "What's wrong, Aiko?" He leaned the cello against his shoulder and placed his free hand around her shoulder.

"I-I'm fine, it's just that... it sounds so sad..." She wiped at her eyes and continued. "It wouldn't be anything more than that, it's just that... your the one playing it, you know?"

"Because I'm the one playing it?" He wasn't too sure what the girl meant by the words, so he had to ask. "Why does that make a difference? It's just a song..."

"I know it is, it's just... I don't know. I'm sorry..." She got up from the couch, but was stopped when his hand grabbed her wrist.

"C'mon, Aiko, there's nothing to be sorry about." 'Maybe this is where I'm suppose to act like a father? What am I saying...' He wasn't sure about what to do, but since it was his fault, it was up to him to fix it, 'but, she's my friend, and I hate seeing her cry...' He pushed the cello aside and hugged the short girl.

"S-Shinji... it's alright, I'm fine..." finding no excuse to not let herself be comforted, she relaxed and returned the gesture, "Thank you..."

It wasn't until later that night, when Asuka and Mayumi had returned and had also gone to bed, that the most eventful thing that day occurred. As it had been for the past week, Aiko slept next to Shinji's side, only this time she did not wait until he was asleep. She had crept to his side as soon as he had laid down. It didn't bother him, but it was different.

"Aiko...? Don't you normally wait until I'm asleep when you do that?"

"Why? Does it bother you?-- I could go back, I mean, the bed isn't uncomfortable or anything--" She was cut off as Shinji flicked her forehead and smiled at the girl. She took his clue and rested her head on his bandaged chest, sighing at the sensation of his beating heart against her ear, proof that he was alive and well; her invincible Shinji. "Hey, Shinji..."

"Yeah?"

"I... That thing that you and my sister did, you know, your promise to her..."

Was it wrong for her to know about that, he wondered. "Oh... well, it's not like she made me. I'll do anything I can for you... Mayumi, and everyone else."

The girl snuggled against him and felt the increased heart rate. "It's scary sometimes, the way you have to go out and fight those angels. I know that Rei and Asuka are with you, but your the best, so you always end up getting hurt and..."

He placed his hand over the girl's head and stared at the familiar ceiling. "I'm not the best pilot. If anyone's the best, it's probably Asuka. I might have a slightly higher synch ratio, but I'm always getting angry or scared while I'm out there. Misato told me... that if I keep getting over-emotional while in the Eva, that'll I'll just end up getting hurt-- and she was right."

"B-But, you did what you had to!"

"Misato... she scolds me a lot when I do stupid things, like getting carried away... but she's right in doing so. Asuka's the best, really..." He saw her frown and decided he was getting a bit too pessimistic. "... but it's not like I'll ever admit that to her."

Shinji noticed that she became quiet. Something he said must have upset her, it must have. "Aiko? Are you alright?" The raven-haired girl turned her head and, with her tear-filled eyes, kissed his cheek before laying her head down on his chest once again, her blush evident even in the dark of the room. "A-Aiko?"

She didn't turn her head, but she spoke. "You-You'll protect me, r-right?"

The young pilot sat up and looked at girl who only stared at the floor with tear-filled eyes. "I... I said that I would, didn't I? Don't cry... I made a promise that I would..."

The girl attached herself to his chest and let her tears flow freely from her emerald eyes. "I'm so scared, Shinji! Your always getting hurt, and Mayumi's been to the hospital twice-- twitching and crying from I don't know what! Why is everything bad happening! I don't want anyone to die! You can't die!"

_"Shinji, please take care of my Aiko. I don't mean by piloting-- I know you'll do that --I mean emotionally. She's very frail, even though she puts up a cheerful front."_

'I guess she was right...' The young boy held the girl until her shivering stopped and her breathing had become more relaxed and even paced. Holding the small, crying girl in the dark room, comforting her to best way he could, it was obvious how the girl could turn him into a father figure. He vowed to himself then that he would try his hardest to fulfill such a position. "Aiko... I won't die," he tried his best to chuckle, but only managed an obviously forced laugh, "I'll be here for you..."

She wiped her tears with the back of her hands and leaned further onto him. "Always...?"

In all honestly, he knew he shouldn't promise impossible things, but to deny her a simple response, a simple confirmation of his guardianship to her, would tear her little eggshell heart apart. "Always, Aiko. I'll never let anything happen to you."

He stroked her hair until she fell asleep, placing her next to him when he was certain she would not awaken from her peace, and kissing the girl's forehead, as a father would. He closed his eyes, a somewhat peaceful rest, hearing what Aiko thought was left unheard in the darkness of the room and the crystalline silence of the night; her confession carelessly whispered into his ear when he had closed his eyes.

"I love you, Shinji..."

--

The advantage of the dark skies was for NERV, by comparison of weaponry NERV also had the advantage, and NERV had the Evangelions, those damnable biomachines built in the image of those who held their reigns. But their in lie a disadvantage; the horsemen of those three beasts were not soldiers, nor were they even adults. No, the horsemen who held the reigns of the detrimental horses were children. Rei Ayanami, Shinji Ikari, and Asuka Langley Soryu, those were the equestrians who rode the steel horses of war, and those children were the hope of man.

That is how it was suppose to be, only those three horsemen for those three steeds; but the angel girl had brought about a great change, an unforgivable change to the plans of those who sought to change the world or control it. The problem was to be easily remedied by taking the girl and removing the angel's core from within her body. Their job, the army of SEELE, would be to take siege of NERV long enough to abduct the Yamagishi and then retreat. Though strong, Steele's army lacked the hubris to attempt to completely control NERV; they would need the UN forces for that.

The sun was out and school was in session for the potential pilots. It was the perfect time to strike. With all three pilots inside of one building, as well as the angel girl, abducting the Yamagishi without fear of the Evangelions would be a simple task.

One would ask why not simply use espionage as a means of kidnap, but those are fools who cannot see the flaw in such an approach. Section 2 was everywhere, even within the school itself, disguised as faculty and janitors, and surrounding the streets around it as normal Tokyo-3 citizens. Ikari himself would probably even have the girl guarded secretly by Section 2 themselves.

Why not just kill the girl, a normal person might ask. The soldiers and mercenaries did not care nor question why, they had their orders and mission parameters and money. So they marched on to their victory and to their death, arming themselves and rolling their tanks out for allegiance and money. Soon would be the hour of attack, soon would be the hour of retreat.

--

"Shinji."

"What is it?"

"Your meal... it is different from the others you have made."

The young boy as well as the two others around him stared at the opened obento and blinked at the contents. As far as the three stooges could tell, it was just food. "W-What do you mean, Rei? It just looks like my usual food."

She pointed at the food and, with the same monotonous and quiet voice, she said, "There is no meat."

Touji stared at the box. "Yeah, your right... what's with dat Shinji? You going veterinarian on us?"

Kensuke pushed his glasses forward and let the light of the sun reflect on the large lenses. "I think you mean vegetarian, Touji. And what's with that anyway? You trying to keep Touji from eating your leftovers or something?"

"No, no... I just felt like making something that Rei taught me how to make-- I mean, Touji 'the stomach' can't always get the leftovers, can he?" Shinji stared at the barely noticeable blush on the pale girl's cheeks and chuckled out towards the schoolyard. "Mine tasting it? You would probably know if it was good or not."

The girl nodded and took a spoonful of the vegetarian food, savoring the taste and feeling the warm sensation in her chest as Shinji waited patiently for her verdict. "It is... delicious."

Shinji smiled at his shoes and then at her. "Thanks, Rei. I wasn't sure if I did it right..." Before he could go on, he felt his cell phone vibrating inside of his pocket. "Huh...?" He opened the phone and answered. "Yes, hello?"

"Yes, Shinji? It's me, Dr. Akagi. Listen, if it's not too much trouble, I want you and Mayumi to come into to my office as soon as possible. If you could, right now-- don't worry about asking for permission, the school has already been informed." Before she hangs up, she asks, "Is Rei there?"

"Hmm? Yes, she's right next to me."

"Tell her to come along too." The phone clicked and her voice was no longer heard.

Shinji stared at the phone, wondering exactly what was going but not truly caring. Whatever it was, it must have been important. "Sorry, you two, but me and Rei gotta head to NERV," he turned towards the pale girl and lead her towards the exit from the rooftop, "Let's go, we have to get Mayumi as well... I don't really know why, though..."

They said their farewells and left two of the three stooges on the rooftop. Shinji and Rei walked towards the place Mayumi usually was, with Asuka. The two walked into the classroom to find Hikari, Aiko, Mayumi, Asuka, and two other girls they were not truly familiar with sitting in a circle, eating, laughing, and talking about anything and nothing.

The sable-haired girl turned to see her boyfriend entering the room with the blue-haired girl, bringing a slight frown to her features when the crimson eyes met her own russet. She turned away and looked at the boy. "Hi, Shinji! This is a surprise, what's up?"

The boy smiled at the girl and grabbed her hand, his hopes of making her blush coming true. "Ritsuko told us to go to her office. She said not to worry about telling the school, they've already been informed."

Her heart seemed to skip a beat and the heat drained from her face. "I-It's nothing serious, right?" Her shaking hand was steadied once again by the young pilots. Getting the clue, she sighed and grabbed her shoulder bag. "Okay..." She turned to her little sister and flicked her forehead. "Remember that we have to go to our home today, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." She ran up to Shinji and hugged him, sticking her tongue out at her sister and then sitting back down, bringing out the anger in her sister she loved so. "What? I was just saying goodbye."

The older sister grumbled, but was silenced by an arm around her waist. The girls around the room giggled as the blushing Shinji, in an unexpected show of affection, led the girl out of the room with an arm around her waist, in his way telling her that she was the only one. 'I wonder if this is too much...' He was reaffirmed by the way she leaned against him as they and Rei left the room. 'I've gotta thank Ms. Yamagishi later,' he though happily.

--

"We've detecting movement within sectors 3 and 6."

Misato stood up from the chair she had brought from her office and looked over Aoba's shoulder. "What type of movement? Is it another angel?"

"No ma'am. It's significantly smaller... let me bring up the visual feed." The man typed on his keyboard, expecting to see the forest and mountainous regions of eastern and southern Tokyo-3, but received only static. "Visual is impossible, cameras are offline. There's a possibility that they were destroyed."

Misato looked at the static, a strange feeling of impending danger rising from the bottom of her scar, and clenched her fist. They've dealt with terrorist before, the occasional random nut-job, or small group of extremist against the fortress city for one reason or another, but something felt wrong this time.

"Send the closest Section 2 members to sectors 3 and 6-- make sure they're armed to the teeth. I've got a bad feeling about this." She folded her arms and stares at the grey and white static. "What's the status or the other sectors? Has there been any movement detected there?"

"No ma'am, no signs detected," he turned in his chair and faced the major, "Major, do you think it could just be another group of terrorists or saboteurs?"

"It probably is, but something is telling me that it might be more than that..." She turned her head as the panicked voices of agents reached her ears. "What the..?--"

"M-M-Major! There's an army out here! T-They're headed towards the south eastern edge of the city!"

"We've lost three agents-- they're not amateurs! We need back-up! We nee--" The voice of the agent was cut off with the gurgle of blood clogging his throat. "Ga-Gah..."

"Major-- the closest thing is the school, they m-must be after the children!" The man's voice was staggered and sporadic, he was obviously injured, and would not outrun the army if he was on his own.

Misato moved Aoba away from the keyboard and brought up a green screen with blinking lights. She looked at one specific blinking orb on the grid. "A few feet from to your left is an escape route into the underground shelters! Get inside and make sure they don't spot you!"

"Major!" The short-haired technician signaled to her superior to look at her screen. "Satellite visual confirms at least three hundred soldiers within sectors 3 and 6, along with two airborne tank destroyers!"

She bit her lip and turned to the bird's eye view. "What about large artillery?"

"As far as we can tell, they don't have any large artillery... but the infantry are closing in on the school!"

'Damnit! What the hell is going on? We weren't meant to fight off humans...' She calculated the odds in her mind. With only submachine gun armed security guards and semiautomatic equipped Section 2 members against three hundred plus soldiers and airborne support, NERV was in for great casualties. "Get the UN on the line! How could so many people cross our boundaries without our notice!"

"Communications are down! We can't reach them!"

Before the tactician could begin panicking, a booming voice was heard from the higher section of the main tactics room. "Retract the school into the mountainside shelter. Immediately begin preparations for the use of Unit-02-- level 1 battle stations!"

Misato turned to the supreme commander of NERV. "B-But, sir! How are we suppose to fight off a group this vast without the UN's forces? And Unit-02? The school is--"

"There is an underground passage leading to the closed off section of the geo-front. The pilot of Unit-02 will make her way through the passage." He turned his flame gaze towards the logistics officer. "Lieutenant Ibuki, I leave you to inform the Second Child of the situation."

"Y-Yes, sir!" She lifted the phone next to her terminal and dialed Asuka's cell phone.

The right hand man looked at the satellite image as it closed in on the two sectors. "They're smart-- they knew to strike when the children were all together... Ikari."

"Yes, it would be best to use the cities defenses first, but the clever soldiers are too close to the school. Have the Section 2 members guard the entrances until the school retracts into the mountainside. Post them on the rooftops and inside of the classrooms themselves."

Misato looked at her watch and froze. 'Oh no... it's time for Ritsuko's meeting with... they're outside the school!' Without waiting another minute, she yelled out to the commander she was going to get Shinji, Rei, and Mayumi before they were found.

With her aching legs, her boots clacked on the cool steel floors as she rushed to the express monorails that would lead to the surface. Too long, it took simply too long to get to her car, so she had to make it up with her speed. Jumping into her car and slamming her foot on the peddle, the blue sports car sent a cloud of white smoke in the distance as it rushed through the city in search for the unsuspecting children.

"Why the hell do these things keep happening!"

--

The three walked through the somewhat empty streets of Tokyo-3 towards the tollgates leading into the underground city. Aside from the occasional passer-by heading to work or lunch, there were not many people on the streets. Such an occurrence was rare in Tokyo-3. The streets were usually semi-full with people walking around or talking to one another, but not today.

In the end, Shinji did not care. At the moment, he was quite jovial. Not only did he have Mayumi next to him, her head on his shoulder and his arm on her waist, but he was with Rei. It must have been that gesture that comforted his jealous bookworm, he thought, convincing her that she was his and he was hers. Even still, there was the lingering feeling that it might have been unfair to Rei, for some reason or another, so he said ever so casually, "So, Rei... do you know why Ritsuko called us out of school?"

She kept her pace and turned her head towards the somewhat flushed boy. "I do not know. Perhaps she wishes to examine your injuries once again."

"Maybe... but it isn't that serious. It's just a bruise."

Rei raised her eyebrow and gently poked the boy on the chest, receiving an sharp 'ow' for her touch. "If it were not serious, then you would not have cried out in pain."

He rubbed the back of his head and laughed her ability to see past the dismiss of his condition. "Okay, okay... I just don't want you to feel guilty or anything. I was being careless, so it was my fault, not yours."

They had a discussion about his condition at school a few days after the angel battle, one that involved Rei apologizing for allowing him to be hurt and Asuka saying it was his fault, then apologizing under her breath. After some time, he had convinced the blue-haired girl that she did not need to apologize. Still, the lingering feeling bounced in her mind.

Mayumi looked at the spot where Ayanami had poked Shinji and traced her finger over the same area. "Is... does it hurt a lot, Shinji?"

Her was sincere and childish, so he couldn't help but stutter and blush. "N-No... could we get off the subject? All it does is make you two feel responsible for what I did."

"It's just that--" She stopped in mid sentence when he drew her closer. She got the message and dropped the subject. The silence ensued, so she decided to speak to the girl she had uttered no more than greetings to. "Hey, Ayanami, do you mine telling me about how you and Shinji first met?"

Shinji felt his stomach start to hurt again, but he let Rei speak on the subject. "The first time I had met Shinji, he had just transferred into Tokyo-3. There was an angel attack, but because there was no other, I was to be sent out in Unit-01, despite my injuries. There, while on the hospital stretcher, I met Shinji. He piloted instead of me." She looked at her shoes and then forward. "He was different then."

He looked at the bright red eyes of the pale skinned girl. "I was different...? How so?"

"You were usually sad, morose even," she looked at the arm placed on the Mayumi's waist, "nor do I believe you would have piloted the Evangelion again after your first experience."

The boy looked at the red blinking light of the crosswalk and sighed happily. "Maybe I have changed a little... but it's probably because I've had some inspiration to do so."

Though he was indirect and very subtle, Mayumi knew who he spoke of, which brought a smile and blush she tried to hide with her bangs. It was his way of flirting, the kind you had to try and pick up on; it made it all the more sweeter to her. "Yeah, I think you've changed too... for the better."

"You think so?" He was hesitant about allowing himself the praise, since it was not in his nature to be proud of anything he has done. "Maybe..."

Shinji stared at the street light, the blinking red light now gone, and immediately began to worry. The power was going out; the sirens would begin once again, he knew it. He stepped forward and looked at the two girls, worry once again in his eyes. "Something's wrong! The street lights are going out and--"

Before he could continue his sentence, a large helicopter could be heard in the distance, but it was louder and too close to be one of NERV's. The blue-haired girl looked to the sky and saw the tank destroyer in the distance, it's mounted guns pointed towards the citizens of Tokyo-3. "We have to find the closest path to NERV headquarters! It should be within this block."

All around them the citizens screamed as the helicopter opened fire on the surrounding buildings, cracking the armored cannons within the armory like hails on brittle glass. They ran and ran from the barrage of shells that landed on the streets and cars, smoking from their firing and melting the clothes of the unfortunate that they fell upon.

The sable-haired girl stared at the destruction in disbelief, too shocked to move, too shocked to turn her eyes away as the buildings were turned into steel swiss cheese. "Sh-Sh-Shi-Shinji!" She grabbed hold of the boy who stared at the second tank destroyer unleashing the large armor piercing bullets to the defensive structures.

Snapping back into reality, he took Mayumi by her arm and followed Rei as she led them towards the nearest emergency passage into NERV. "Follow me! This is the closest way into the geo-front!"

They ran between two normal buildings, not far away enough from the aircrafts to mute the screams and bangs, and arrived to a slanted dead end. Mayumi, out of breath, held onto Shinji's shoulder and looked behind them, reassuring herself that surviving was a possibility. "This is a dead end! How are we suppose to get to NERV through here!"

"Shinji, help me move this dumpster-- behind it lies our entrance," she said too casually for anyone's comfort.

The boy grabbed hold of the dumpster and pulled it away from the concrete wall, revealing a manhole leading into the sewers of the city. The boy looked down at the darkness in fear then back to the source of the screams, and held the sewer lid open, choosing to let the girls go first. "Go first!"

"B-But, Shinji--"

He looked back to the nearing sounds of fearful citizens and back towards the scared girl. "We don't have time for this! Climb down," he turned towards his fellow pilot, "you too, Rei!"

Without arguing, the blue-haired girl climbed down into the sewers. Hesitantly, the sable-haired girl followed, watching her feet as they disappeared into the black of the lightless depths. Once she touched down on the damp concrete, she looked up at the entrance, and said, "Shinji! Get down here, now!"

Before he could argue, a voice shouted from behind him, a gruff voice somewhat muffled by a protective mask. "Hold it right there, kid!" the soldier raised his rifle towards the boy's head and continued, "Step forward with both hands raised, slowly!"

Shinji pushed the lid back and leaned it against the concrete walls behind him. His heart was thumping against his chest, his palms were soaked, and his legs were shaking as the muzzle stared down at him. He complied and raised his arms, walking forward slowly.

"Shinji! What are you doing? Get down here!"

His blood froze in his veins-- the soldier now knew there were more with him, Rei and Mayumi. The soldier moved forward, never letting his guard down, and pointed the gun downward into the sewer as he kept some distance between he and the boy. "You two, get back up here."

She felt like crying. She felt like crying like a child who saw a mean stranger. She felt like crying when she had realized her father was dead. The sable-haired girl placed her arms on the ladder shakily, climbing upward with tears in her eyes and her bladder barely holding it's contents. She would comply for the sake of Shinji, as did Rei right behind her, but her heart broke when she saw what Shinji so stupidly did.

The boy pushed the man to the wall, knocking him off balance in one foot, but receiving the end of the rifle to his jaw. He felt the snap of his chin and the blood oozing from his bit tongue, but he found the opportunity he was waiting for. Shinji pushed the lid to the sewers back over the entrance, sealing the girls from the soldier and his detriment. And even though he could hear Mayumi's screams for him and Rei pulling her back away from the surface, understanding perfectly what he had just done for them without spitting it back at him, he still was fearful of the muzzle over his forehead.

"Damn brat!" The soldier picked up the boy by his collar and shoved him against the wall. "I hope fucking those girls was worth your life!" He kicked Shinji in his chest and brought him to his knees, sending him into a fit of coughing as his bandages were soaked in his blood. The soldier placed his finger over the trigger, but never pulled.

The pilot opened his eyes when he heard the sound of gunfire, seeing the soldier in front of him have his eyes roll back as his ear sent a spray of crimson onto the dumpster. Shinji stared at the limp body over him, and kicked it off of him, shedding tears as the pain in his chest lit him on fire. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Get up, Shinji!" The man in black draped the boy's arm over his shoulder and carried his nearly unconscious form, "We have to get out of here!"

"M-Ma-Mayu... R-Re..." He got up and limped along with the man that carried him. "They're...--"

"A lot safer than we are! Now shut-up and follow me, the enemy is getting closer!" The man looked up as an enemy soldier popped up from the rooftop. He let go of the pilot and fired two shots into the soldier's head. They were already here, and they were surrounded. "Shit..."

--

She held the child in her arms but did nothing more than let the innocent whimpers muffle in her school uniform. It had been twenty minutes since the sirens had begun screeching the warning song, and the sounds of machine gun fire and helicopters had reached their ears; worse than that, there seemed to be no end.

It was, of course, Aiko that was whimpering; though Asuka could not blame the child. Even with her bravado and ego, she could admit, though only to herself, that loneliness was the worst type of pain. Give her the teeth of an angel, the blast of positron, or the clean slice of a tentacle, but not loneliness. It was shame, she thought, that the young Yamagishi was experiencing that herself. Trying not to cry because of the time that passed between Mayumi's leave from school and the attack of an unknown force was roughly five minutes, and NERV was at least twenty away.

They could be dead for all they knew; and that is what allowed her to hold the girl and, even if she would not comfort her past that, hold her own fears in. Angels were one thing, but humans were another matter entirely, she thought.

All around the classroom the students watched through the steel gates that had sprung out from the school's walls and covered the windows. There was a wide range of emotions. Some were completely afraid for their lives, hiding under desks and huddling next to one another, hoping that their parents were well and in shelters. Others stood in amazement near the bared windows at the localized destruction. Hikari tried her best to get the students all away from the windows, fearing that a stray bullet would pierce the glass, but failed in keeping control of the frightened students.

Her phone rang. She reached in her shoulder bag with her free arm and opened the phone, "What the hell is going on!"

The short-haired technician's voice was serious yet vivid in hidden dread. "We're under attack by an unknown enemy force! Communications with the UN forces are down and Section 2 is currently busy protecting the area around the school. Asuka, listen to me carefully. The school should be retracting into the mountainside soon enough, but it's going to take sometime. While that's going on, I'll need you to get to NERV central!"

"How am I suppose to do that! There's a damn war going on outside!"

"There's a passage in the janitor's office, it just looks like an old door, but it has a NERV ID scanner for a handle. Use your ID to open it and follow the path, it'll lead you straight into the geo-front!" Before the redhead hung up, the technician spoke once again. "Asuka! Once you get here, we're going to need you to pilot Unit-02, so prepare yourself."

She paused. "Right." She hung up and peeled the girl's head from her bosom, forcing her red, emerald eyes to her own steel blue. "I have to go to NERV, alright? Stay here and wait for me to go settle this."

The girl couldn't speak with the fear for her sister's life drying her throat, so she hugged her rival tightly. Asuka peeled her off once more and flicked her forehead. "Listen, if I don't go, a lot of people might die." She felt like she was talking to an eight year old, but now was not the time to tease the short girl. She turned towards the class representative and signaled her over. "Hikari! Would you mine taking care of the shrimp here? I have to get to NERV."

"S-Sure, Asuka." The redhead got up and opened the door. "Be careful, okay?"

The redhead turned back and grinned at the freckled girl. "As much as I can." She left without another word.

--

They fell down into the sewer, landing on the moist concrete with a small splash, all the while Mayumi yelled for him, for Shinji. That idiot had done something only fools in love could have done, choosing for the girl to live simply because he decided it was best. "Shinji! Shinji! Shinji!"

The blue-haired girl looked up at the sound of a single gunshot and flinched at sound of tearing flesh and popping bone. The cold sensation was stronger than ever, freezing her chest and straightening her spine. But she knew better than to return. He had given them the chance to live, and to let that go would only make his death meaningless. She grabbed Mayumi's arm before she started climbing up once more. "We have to go. There will be more on the way."

The girl turned her head and pushed Rei away, climbing the ladder and pushing the lid off. She poked her head out and saw four soldiers cornering a Section 2 agent in the slanted dead end. She would have gone down once again, but her eyes caught Shinji sitting against the concrete wall, his shirt splotched with the lifeblood that seeped through his bandages. "Shinji!"

The boy turned to look at the girl, his lowered eyes becoming open at her sight. "Get the hell out of here!"

The soldiers looked at the injured boy and all but one of the four lowered their weapons. "The third child, Shinji Ikari?" One of the soldiers reached into his satchel and removed a small device, pressing the screen with his fingers and staring at the image of the third pilot and then looking at the injured boy. "Confirmed-- take him into custody."

Ignoring all common sense, the girl left the sewer and crawled over to the boy's side. He looked angrily at her, and she knew exactly why, but cared not. "Are you alright!" Her voice was soaked in her fear, as well as her cheeks with fresh tears.

Shinji leaned against the wall and pushed himself upward. "You idiot... I told you to get out of here..." The soldiers raised their weapons once again and Shinji raised his arms, still leaning against the concrete wall. "Don't shoot! I'll go..."

He grabbed hold of his side and started walking towards the four soldiers, shoving the girl's arm away when she reached for him, telling him to stop. He was stopped when the Section 2 agent moved in front of him. "Don't be so dense, Ikari. We can't just turn over an important pilot."

The Section 2 agent raised his gun quickly, spraying two soldiers with a barrage of slugs. Their comrades raised their guns and riddled the agent with their own ammunition, careful to not hit the child behind him. "Aahh! Gahh...!" He fell over and landed over the pilot, knocking him down onto his elbows.

Shinji looked at the body with wide eyes. His eyes met the dead eyes of the brave agent, never blinking, just existing to stare at him. "Ngahh... ah..."

The soldiers walked towards the boy, automatics in hand, and pointed the muzzles at his head. "Get up, your coming with us."

All Shinji could do was stare at the eyes as Mayumi held onto him, clutching him as if she were falling into an abyss, while the black-scarlet blood of the agent covered his elbows. He looked up as when he caught sight of a familiar person on the rooftop in front of him. "M-Mr. Kaj-ji..."

The soldiers looked upward towards the rooftop only to see the unshaven agent point his pistol at them. The taller soldier looked to his left as the back of his partner's head sprayed it's contents to the streets. "What the...? Bastard!"

The soldier swerved to his left, getting his left shoulder clipped by the unshaven agent. He dropped to his knee and pressed the gun to the pilot's head, pushing him to the wall once again. "Hold your fire, or the kid's gonna get his head sprayed on this wall."

Mayumi panicked. In her state of fear, she attempted to grab the gun from the man's hand, only to be have a knife put to her throat by the soldier's free hand. "Don't move, you little bitch." She gulped, feeling the cold steel on her slender neck, and let the tears run down to the bloodied alleyway.

They were at a standstill. The pilot of Unit-01 was pinned to a wall with a gun to his head, Mayumi had a knife to her throat, and Kaji, at that distance, could not get a shot that would guarantee their safety. Their palms sweated, their hearts raced, and the rest of the army would arrive soon. The bangs were coming closer and the helicopters had nearly destroyed all missile silos, not that they could be used while the children were outside of their Evangelions.

It was fortunate, to say the least. Kaji looked at the mop of blue-hair and red eyes climbing out of the sewers, slowly and quietly, not making a sound as far as he could tell-- he needed to keep him distracted. "What do you want with the pilot?" he yelled.

He cocked the hammer. "That is none of your concern, spy."

Kaji smirked and kept the gun steady in his iron grip. "How would you know of that?" He made sure to keep eye contact with the soldier, never looking at the girl in school uniform who crouched out of the sewer and stepped closer to the three.

"Simple-- no cheesy black suit or sunglasses." He pushed the gun against Shinji's head once more, causing him to grit his teeth. "Enough. Disarm yourself, now. And maybe, I won't have to blast this kid away. Come on, NERV doesn't want to lose it's precious Third Ch--"

The soldier grit his teeth when he felt a pocketknife bury itself into his shoulder. He looked up at the crimson eyes before the world was swallowed by darkness.

Rei let go of the knife as soon as Kaji shot the man in the back of his head. She ran over to Shinji, who leaned against the wall, breathing heavily as he looked back at the crimson eyes and the tearful russet irises. "You idiots... I told you to run..."

They were too afraid to hug the boy. He was covered in blood, some not his own, and breathing heavily, his chest moving slowly upward and downward. He moved his aching hand through his hair and sighed sadly. "If I'm not in my Evangelion getting beat up, I'm being pistol whipped..."

The unshaven agent jumped from the rooftop, landing on ledges, the dumpster that had hidden the sewers, and ran towards the boy and lifted him upward, looking at his red eyes. "You doing alright, Shinji? Can you run?"

The boy leaned against the wall and coughed as the blood inside of him dripped from his lip. "I-I've been better..."

Kaji reached into his pocket and withdrew his phone. He waited impatiently for her to pick up, finally getting his wish after a few seconds. "Katsuragi! Get over here quick! Shinji's been hurt pretty bad, and... yeah, hurry up before reinforcements get here!" He looked to the boy as he leaned against the wall once more and slid down until he sat on the alleyway floor. "Your tougher than that, Shinji... Rei, Mayumi, help him up and get ready to load him up in Misato's car. She'll be here in a few seconds."

--

"Sectors 3 has been completely overtaken! Sector 6 has been nearly occupied!"

"Airborne helicopters have destroyed 35 of self defense structures!"

"Remaining unknown enemy soldiers 276!"

"Section 2 members have been decimated to 37!"

Gendo Ikari stood by as the hologram of Tokyo-3 showed the blinking lights of the enemy and allies alike. The situation would be resolved in a short time. The Second Child was nearing the Eva cages the last he had check, and the school had just finished retracting into the mountainside. All that was left was the deployment of Unit-02.

"Sir, we've just been informed that there has been at least 3 enemy soldiers spotted inside the school!"

The commander looked at the hologram and laced his fingers together in front of him. "Are there any Section 2 agents left inside of the school?"

"Just one, sir!"

"Have him guard class 2-A. Do not let a single soldier live."

--

The blood red hands grabbed hold of it's rifle and opened fire on the small cluster of soldiers before it. Leaving not even a smudge of the blood spilled, the bullets tore through the soldiers and cracked the streets beneath them. They ran in every direction, but with one intent. Escaping.

"These guys...! They break into my city, kill people, and run away at the sight of my Unit-02! How dare they!" The enraged pilot willed her Eva, clutched the dual controls, and leaned forward, sending the red beast down several blocks towards the fleeting ants. The guilt of killing humans now gone with the furry of the temperamental girl, the Eva lifted it's rifle without true target.

The red titan stopped and dropped to one knee, raising the gun to eye level and wiping away at least 6 more enemies from the face of the Earth. The infantry ran through the streets, disorganized and in panic over the biomechanical beast.

The two tank destroyers turned their tails away from the sun and headed towards the Evangelion, flying across the city in mere seconds. With the enrage girl inside too busy to notice their presence, one helicopter turned it's mounted machine guns towards the rifle, hitting the heated barrel and tearing the armor. The gun refused to shot, and Asuka finally noticed the helicopter.

"Grrr...!" The Evangelion dropped the gun and grabbed the helicopter as it attempted to fly higher, crushing it in-between it's crimson fingers. The second tank destroyer flew in front of the Evangelion and shot it's armor piercing bullets into the top left viridian eye of the beast.

The red titan bowed on it's knee and placed it's hands onto the payment. Asuka closed her left eye and grit her teeth at the numb feeling. In her anger, she had forgotten to raise her A.T. Field, an unforgivable mistake in her mind.

Gendo's voice resonated from the sound only screen next to her. "Do not let the enemy escape!"

"I wasn't planning to!" The female pilot grabbed the controls and pressed the button on the side of the left handle. The left wing of the Evangelion opened and shot out five spikes towards the tank destroyer, turning into metal shards sprayed over Tokyo-3.

"Commander!" shouted the short-haired technician, "the Section 2 agent inside of the school has been injured, but drove off the three soldiers!-- They've taken someone from class 2-A!"

Above his orange glasses, his eyebrows twitched. "Do not let them escape."

--

Every time he would open his eyes he could feel the wind in his hair and movement beneath. It was like a rollercoaster ride without the restraints in front. But he could hear sounds that were definitely not from a rollercoaster, screams from fear, gunshots, and the heavy stomping of an Evangelion.

There was a slap to his cheek, and then a slap to his chin, making it feel like he was shocked by a few volts. "Ugh... ngah..." He could barely keep his eyes open, but the gentle tapings wouldn't stop. Eventually, he forced his eyes open to see the wet russet irises of his 'inspiration'. "Mayumi..."

The girl in front of him laughed in between her sobs, happy that he was once again awake. She wanted to hold him, to soothe the pain in whatever way she could, but he looked too injured for such an act. "S-Shinji... stay awake! You can't fall asleep like this..."

The boy looked to his left and saw the concerned look of his blue-haired comrade. "Rei... I didn't expect you... to" he coughed downward, not wanting to let any blood get on her, " I-I didn't expect you to come back... you should have left towards NERV."

"I should have," she said softly, "but I could not leave you behind."

He smiled at her with his half-closed eyes, earning a blush from the girl. "Thank you..." He turned back to the girl in front of him. "W-Where are we?"

She wiped at her eyes and sat next to the boy, interlacing her fingers with his own bloodied digits. "In Misato's car, we're trying to find a way to get back to NERV without... without running into the remaining soldiers."

Shinji lowered his head as the car ran over the body of a downed soldier and let his bangs over his eyes. "I thought I was dead..." He looked at the two people in the front seats of the car and saw the man who had saved all three of their lives. "Mr. Kaji... thanks for saving us. Misato... I..."

"Don't talk! We've gotta get you to Ritsuko right away!" She turned the wheel and made a sharp corner to avoid a pair of fearful enemy soldiers. "Just stay awake."

"R-R-Right..." He looked over at his shivering girlfriend and the bruise on her cheek. Gently, he ran his finger over her cheek and frowned at her flinch. "You should have ran..."

She looked at her skirt and let tears land on the turquoise fabric. "Just shut-up, Shinji! You know I couldn't just leave you alone!" She shivered at the tired look he gave her. "... Just like you wouldn't have if I was in your place..."

He sighed and looked at his red-stained shirt, following her hair as it trailed down the tainted fabric. "Your letting your hair get dirty again..." He moved her hair away from his shirt and rested his head on the top of his seat.

She whimpered and hugged the boy softly, carefully resting her head on his shoulder. "Just shut-up... please, just stop talking..."

He smirked at her with blood dripping from the edge of his mouth and half-closed eyes.

--

"Come back to HQ, Asuka! They've already lost well over a hundred soldiers and have no way of defeating an Evangelion," Maya placed her hands on her keyboard and brought up a green and white map of Tokyo-3, "so find the nearest escape route and return to base!"

Asuka held back the Evangelion, pulling it's reigns, stopping the warhorse in it's tracks, and faced the short-haired woman. "I can still get them! They've gone through the mountainside-- all I need is to reload on--"

"That's enough, Asuka! There still might be civilians outside of the shelters, we don't want you to kill them too!"

Her eyes twitched as the sentence sunk into her mind, clearing herself of the anger induced rashness. "F-Fine..." The red Evangelion looked on as the ants retreated, retreating itself into a hallow building and re-entering the geo-front. "H... How many people did I kill...?"

--

How unfortunate. That is what was said about the pilot's condition. Shinji Ikari, designated pilot of Evangelion Unit-01, the vaunted Third Child, was, by normal medical conditions, long since dead. His bleeding heart, caused when he was boiled alive in the LCL by the fifth angel, had nearly failed from the blood loss he had incurred. His ribcage had cracked under the boot of an unknown and now dead soldier. To make matters worse, after months of ignoring the pain in his chest, his heart muscle had weakened. With Ritsuko, operating was an option, but it was still a difficult task; and an impossible job for any normal doctor.

It had been two weeks since he had checked into the NERV hospital, and things had only gone from bad to worse. No one but the blue-haired pilot and his guardian had visited the boy, holding his hand, hoping that he would squeeze it gently, but were always disappointed by his lack of responsiveness.

The russet-eyed girl had come only once; when he had been first admitted. She had held his bloodstained hand, sobbing quietly when she was forced to leave his side for operation. Mayumi wished for nothing more than a speedy recovery, but she had faith in the doctor that had saved her own life twice, so she waited. She waited until she received the horrible truth.

Painfully, he woke to the unfortunately familiar ceiling of the hospital tile. Pale white and sterile.

Rubbing his eyes, he looked to the source of warmth in his hand, finding the ashen hand of his first friend. His chest hurt too much to get up and hug her, fearing that she may be nothing but a desire his mind made real. "R-Rei...?"

The girl opened her eyes slowly, awakening from the few hours of sleep she allowed herself while in Shinji's presence, and looked at his half-opened royal blue eyes, thankfully still filled with the light of life. "Shinji, your awake..."

"I guess that I am." He turned his head completely and looked at her calm, yet clearly tired expression. The barely visible dark rings under her eyes did not belong, and he felt horrible for causing such an imperfection. "You've been here a long time, haven't you?"

She nodded her head and squeezed his hand somewhat. "I only left when I had a good reason too, or when I was needed by the Commander."

He coughed out a chuckle and squeezed her hand back. "Thank you, Rei." The girl blushed at him and lowered her head, in no way happy about what she had to say. "Is something wrong? You look kinda sad..."

"Shinji..." she squeezed his hand harder and did not look at his eyes, since she knew that his reaction would be heartbreaking. It would make the cold feeling sink her heart. "Shinji... it's about... I..." She found herself stuttering for the first time in such a long time, struggling to force the words she regretted out of her mouth, and his condition did not make things easier on her conscious. "It is about Aiko..."

Shinji's smile turned into a confused frown. His mind was too tired from excessive sleep to even comprehend what was to be told. "W-What is it? What's wrong with her?"

"She..." she frowned and continued, "Aiko... she was kidnapped by the soldiers during the invasion..."

There seemed to be a moment where there was no time. She could not see his face with her own head hung low, since she dared not take a look. Already she could hear him gulp as the information sunk into his mind. He let go of her hand and stared at the ceiling tile, not saying a word, but with trembling lips.

She rose from her seat and attempted to walk away, but his hand gently tapped her wrist, not even having the strength to truly attempt to stop her. With tears in his throat, he choked out, "pl-please don't leave me, Rei, please... not now."

She raised her head and stood next to his bedside. "I am sorry..."

He once again grabbed hold of her hand and looked at her with tearful eyes. Slowly and painfully, he sat up on his bed and stared at the white sheets. "I... H-How is Mayumi doing?"

"She has not been to school since the invasion."

"I guess she wouldn't." He gulped once again and sighed with trembling lips. "H-How's Asuka and Misato? Are they ok-kay?"

"They are unharmed. Pilot Soryu has occasionally visited you, as well as Misato when she could get away from her duties."

"O-Oh..." He imagined the cheerful young girl, sleeping soundly in his arms. It was excruciating. "Does Misato know who did this?"

"No one is certain what group did this..." The heartbroken expression on his face made her heart twist. "I am sorry... I wish there was more I could do for you."

He put his eyes on his palms and let the tears run down his arms, refusing to sob, but allowing his weakness to be shown to the blue-haired girl. "Aiko... why her...? Why the hell did it have to be her!"

The blue-haired girl knew not what to do. Should she comfort him? Comfort her friend? Would he even accept the sympathy in his state? She didn't know. Under normal circumstances, she could have asked Shinji what she was feeling, but she couldn't. 'What should I do?'

Awkwardly at first, she sat down on his bed and squeezed his hand gently, but firmly. He needed someone, anyone, so when Rei had made the effort to console him, he was grateful. Like a weeping child with his mother, he laid his head down on her lap and let his tears fall on the fabric of her school uniform while she held his shivering form.

_"Always, Aiko. I'll never let anything happen to you."_

--

When he left the hospital two days later, he left with the assistance of a crutch and the blue-haired pilot. The entire city population seemed to have disappeared after the outside invasion. According to Rei, there was only about 30 civilian casualties, but that was enough for half of the population to leave the fortress and move elsewhere. The week after his hospitalization was a time of burial for the agents who had fallen before the unknown enemies; they were buried inside the geo-front or their home towns.

So he went home with Rei, slowly traveling to the apartment because Misato's car had sustained severe damage on the ride to the slanted alley and back to the geo-front. He was fine with it though, he was in no rush to go anywhere. He could not face Mayumi; for how could he face the girl after he broke his promise? He didn't want to go home, even though he had no where else, because he knew sleeping in that room would remind him of Aiko.

As he stopped at every crosswalk, he could remember her warm breath on his skin, her naiveté and innocence created by the sheltered life Mayumi had let her live. It hurt. Oh, how it hurt.

Once he had arrived at his apartment, he tried to open the door, but was refused. The door opened as soon as he reached for it, revealing the melancholic guardian. She stepped out and led him inward, not letting him rely on the crutch completely, resting some of his weight on her instead, no matter how much he said it was not necessary. He looked back and told Rei to stay, and she could not say no to him.

"Welcome home, Shinji," she said somewhat softly.

He sat on the couch and placed his crutch on the arm rest. "Yeah..."

Rei sat down next to the boy and looked at the crutches he had just used. Misato was aware of the friendship between he and the First Child, but it was still strange. The usually unsociable Rei Ayanami had dedicated her free time to the eternally injured Third Child. It would have been a cute habit if not for the circumstances. "Is there something you want to talk about?"

He rested his elbows on his knees and looked at the floor. "Do we know who did this?"

The cold tone in his voice only made the worn out major worry over her charge. "Unfortunately, no. The UN hasn't found out who invaded the city. And--"

"I mean Aiko," he said calmly, "who took Aiko?"

"We don't know who took her or why... I'm sorry, Shinji."

His voice became ever more desperate. "W-We'll get her back, right? She's just a little girl, what would they want with her anyway? She's just a little girl..."

The older woman knelt down before him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll find out who did this. And we'll get her back." She doubted her words, but the boy was on the brink, both physically and mentally. He needed the reassurance, even if it were false, that things would work out.

"Misato..." he sad almost pleadingly, "I can't sleep here. Not today..."

The mother in her took over her, overriding her usual guardian disposition. She placed her hand on his shoulder and kissed his forehead. "I understand, but where will you go?"

"I guess I could find a hotel or... or something-- I don't really know..." Shinji looked at the slender fingers that grabbed his wrist. "R-Rei?"

"You could spend the night at my apartment. I would not mind."

The offer was both expected and unexpected. Shinji would not have minded a hotel room, but he would prefer being with someone who he could talk to, even the usually stoic Rei. It was unexpected in that she had offered without him truly hinting at her; not that he ever would, since he hated being in people's ways. "Are... are you sure you wouldn't mind?"

"Yes."

"Is that okay, Misato?"

The woman stood up and ruffled his hair. "Sure. Asuka's at Hikari's place, so I don't see why you couldn't go over Rei's place." She avoided the opportunity to tease him and stood up, smiling. "I'll go pack something for you, so don't get up."

Once she was done packing up a duffel bag with three day's worth of Shinji's clothes, she left the bag near the door and helped Shinji get up, even with the knowledge that he was able to do it with no assistance. Both Rei and Shinji stood in front of her, in front of the door, with sullen expressions. "Don't worry, Shinji. Pen-Pen's refrigerator has just been repaired, so I'll have company in a few hours."

Shinji looked down and leaned his weight on the single crutch. Misato smiled sadly at her charge and hugged him. "Get some rest. And make sure to visit her, okay?"

He didn't need to ask who she was talking about. "... Yeah, sure..." Before he left, the purple haired woman hugged him once more, tightly, in a way only a mother could express her care for her child. "Misato?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered in his ear, "your birthday passed, and..."

"I-It's okay..." He returned her embrace and picked up his duffel bag. "I can't find a reason to celebrate anyway."

The two walked away from the apartment and continued to the bottoms. The slow walk only took a few minutes, but it felt too short for Shinji. As long as he continued to walk somewhere, to walk away from somewhere, he could take his mind off of her, off of them.

But it was hard to run away from people once they have left their mark. Even after they arrived and unpacked, setting up Shinji's futon next to Rei's bed and the such, he could not find peace. That night, that silent night of moon rays, he talked to Rei about the unknown force, making it a rather short conversation. Though she would later regret to some extent, Rei had asked who exactly Aiko was to Shinji. After talking to each while staring at the dirty ceiling he had cried. He didn't make a sound, but when the female pilot looked down to make sure the boy was fine, she saw the streams that ran down his cheeks, glowing brightly with the moon's reflection. The cold feeling had returned.

Shinji did not feel like going to school in the morning, understandably so, and Rei said that she had already learned everything they were currently teaching in class, so she went to NERV HQ allowed Shinji to sleep late in her home, making sure, for the first time, to lock the door when she left the building.

It was late in the afternoon when he awoke. With all his injuries, he could have slept a few more hours, but every time he closed his eyes he would find himself staring into Aiko's emerald irises or the eyes of the dead agent who had taken bullets for him. The warm blood turned cold on his flesh, the coppery taste and smell of lifeblood soaking into his cells and into his very core-- the very though disgusted him. The only way to combat the images and smells was in the shower.

Their was more weight on his neck and head than usual in the water-- he hadn't cut his hair in quite some time, he thought. He stepped out of the shower, the only clean thing in the apartment, and looked inside of his duffle bag. Shinji raised his eyebrow. Misato had taken it upon herself to buy the young man some extra clothes. Nothing flashy or expensive, for that he was grateful, so at least he knew that his guardian knew his tastes. He placed on the usual things, his underwear and socks.

Inside the duffel bag he saw his school uniform and a few other new articles-- a dark sage green shirt, no doubt from Misato finding out Mayumi loved muted colors, especially green; a black shirt of the same type, and several pairs of pants and slacks. He would have gone with his normal uniform had he not found a note which read, 'From Misato, try to cheer up! Everything will work out. Just let me handle everything and look pretty for me. P.S. There are some shades in the small pocket. You'll look cute.' He blushed, looked at the bright sun outside the window, and took the glasses from the small pocket.

Putting on the black shirt and a pair of tan slacks, he set out to do anything but sit and reminisce to himself about why he was so miserable and useless. He closed the door, raised his arm towards the sun and placed the necessary glasses on.

But the ghosts continued to haunt him no matter where he went. Somewhere between the bottoms and the rich sections of Tokyo-3, he decided that he would do the only thing he could do, since he was dressed for such an occasion.

He walked, crutch underneath his right arm, to NERV and reached the tollgate. Even the man that stood in the tollgate seemed to both pity and respect him. Pity, because he had endured so much outside of his Evangelion. Pity, because every one in the NERV grapevine knew about his relationship with the Yamagishi family. Respect, because they knew what he had done to assure the safety of his girlfriend and the First Child. Respect, because he had survived.

Despite the looks he received on his way to her office, he never stopped looking down at his feet, since he could never return the looks of the staff. No where near as soon as he would have preferred, he arrived at the good doctors office, but, unfortunately, she was not there. That little bit of disappointment sent a cold wave on his already on-edge heart. He closed the door to her office and left towards the command center.

As soon as he stepped through the door, he was stared at by the two technicians that assisted him during his angel fights, but he was fortunate enough to not see the same look of pity. He walked over to the two and asked, "Excuse me, but do any of you know where it is where the Section 2 agents were buried?"

Hyuuga looked over at the long haired man and back towards the pilot. "Yeah, but some of them weren't buried in Tokyo-3."

"I... would you happen to know where the agent who... who saved my life was buried at? He was--"

Aoba looked away from his workstation and at the boy. "He was buried in the cemetery just outside the city limits, on the west side." The man wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to Shinji. "Here's the address and the name he's buried under."

Shinji thanked the technicians and left without another word, the command center filled with the light clack of his crutch. By the time he reached the NERV parking lot, he was spotted by the missing technician, Maya Ibuki. She left her keys inside of the car and rushed over to the boy, thinking he was in some sort of trouble. "Are you alright, Shinji?"

He looked at her worried face and sighed; he hated it when people worried over him. "No, I'm okay Ms. Ibuki. I was headed out towards the train station."

"The train station?" She suddenly had the urge to slap him. "Your not going to run away again, are you?"

He paused, the thought sinking into his mind. "N-No... I was just headed to the cemetery... I wanted to... I don't know."

She looked at the young boy and gave him a sad smile. "Well, I'll give you a lift. I wouldn't be a very nice person to just let you get on a train when I have a car, especially when your hurt," she raised her hand when he was about to refuse her offer, "and I won't take no for an answer. It's least I can do for the boy that saves our lives so often."

He didn't smile, but nodded his head and let her lead him towards her car, making sure that he let himself in, refusing her offer of assistance, saying, "Thanks, but I'm not that useless."

--

She stared long and hard at the cold white ceiling. The house, aside from the bedrooms, were so cold and emotionless. Just a table, a couch, a TV, and a few other furnishings. Pictures were painful, so they stayed in the room of whoever owned them. Only her mother kept pictures of her past in the living room, but even then they were harmless pictures, whose memories were pleasant, and brought no sorrow.

Certain pictures were now tainted that sat in her room, haunting her. But she couldn't hide them, couldn't ignore them. The first one was of the entire Yamagishi family standing outside their home; Taini was waving and smiling at the camera, Mayumi was blushing at the fact the picture was meant for Shinji, and Aiko was smiling wide while she stood in-between her sister and mother. The second picture was of only Aiko, since she had taken it upon herself to give Shinji a personal picture of her; the back of which said, 'To my Shinji!'

She wanted to give the pictures to him on his birthday, but then the attack happened. Why did such things happen? The sable-haired girl had read many history books, learning about the numerous wars that raged on and on and repeated and continued throughout time, finding the single and most important thing; it usually wasn't worth it. Religiously or financially motivated, almost all were voracious or rapacious. She was born in a time of war, and she did not want to be involved in such a time again, but now her sister, her dearest Aiko, was gone for some reason lost to her, maybe even to the child herself.

Oh, how she cried the days after she found out what had happened. So many tears had been shed that she could have sworn her eyes would have dried out and fell off. Her mother had tried to comfort her, crying herself when her daughter was not in her presence, but Mayumi would always yell at her, telling her to get out of her room. It hurt her to yell at her mother, but she couldn't face her. She couldn't face her, herself in the mirror, or her beloved boyfriend. She couldn't face his slowly breathing body surrounded by beeping machines and hanging sacks of morphine and blood.

Even after Misato had informed Taini that Shinji had woken up three days ago, she couldn't visit him. Then she would have to tell him what happened to Aiko, and she hardly had the mental strength to admit that to herself. So she placed her head on her pillow and stared at the white ceiling of the living room, since she could not sleep in the room that haunted her so, and sobbed when the house was spotless and gave nothing to distract her.

There was a knock at the door. She knew it couldn't be her mother, since she had keys to their house, so it could only be a select number of people. "Mayumi? It's me, Kaji. Mind letting me in?"

Mayumi wiped her eyes and slipped her slippers on, walked to the door and opened it to find the unshaven man standing before her. "H-Hello..." Though she knew to not distrust the man, since she had trust in her beloved, the agent still set her on edge. "What can I do for you?"

"You know, Shinji has been out of the hospital for two days now."

She looked down at her slippers. "Oh... I knew he was awake, but..."

"He's strong," he said while looking at his red sports car, "He should still be in bed, I know, but he's up and walking around with a crutch under his arm." He looked back at the girl. "If you want, I could take you to him."

She clenched her fist. "Does... does he know?"

"... Yes, he does." He could tell by the look on her face that she was about to say no to his offer. She couldn't bring herself to face him, but she wanted to. "Hurry up, get your shoes on before he's on the move again. He seems to enjoy walking around when he shouldn't be."

"O-Okay..." She walked into her home and took off her slippers, putting her shoes on and trading her yellow vest for a sweater over her school uniform. "Where's he right now?"

"Last I checked, he was headed towards the cemetery outside the city limits. He's not on foot right now, though."

--

He stepped out of the car without his crutch, refusing to lean on it while he stood among the deceased; since he had too many close calls with the reaper to tempt his scythe with the sight of the weakness, and stared at the numerous grave sites. Maya stepped out of her car, locked the doors and placed her hand on his shoulder.

Maya didn't know who he was visiting, but she knew he probably wanted privacy. Still, she couldn't let him go alone without his crutch, so she walked with him through the graves, steadying him with a hand on his shoulder whenever he went off-balance.

"Thank you, Ms. Ibuki," he said without turning to her, "It would be dark out if I was on foot."

She looked at the setting sun, the golden orange of the sun reflecting on the ocean in the distance, and sighed. It was a beautiful sunset, but it was such an ugly place. Her first girlfriend was dead and buried as well, she thought they continued to move deeper into the seaside cemetery. "Think nothing of it."

In truth, the cemetery was nothing more than a piece of land, sectioned off near a cliff overseeing the ocean by a steel gate. It was makeshift, but so were many burials in the time after Second Impact. So she had to wonder, who would Shinji be seeing in this place?

"Shinji, who is it your looking for?"

He looked at the piece of paper and found the cenotaph. "This person," he said while kneeling down onto one knee, "he was the agent who protected me in the alleyway before I almost handed myself to them." He took off the sunglasses and stared at the cenotaph with tired eyes. "He saved me and Mayumi. I just wish... there was something more that I can do."

Maya folded her arms and looked down at the boy, making sure he had his space. "I know it's hard to see people die, but we can't control when people leave us."

He got up from his knee and stood in front of the grave solemnly. "But he didn't have to die! Soldiers didn't have to just come here and kill us-- and for what?" steadily, his voice grew louder and angrier, "for money? For the Evangelions? For Aiko!"

She stared at the grass beneath her boots. There was nothing more to say. NERV was responsible for killing angels, a noble cause to be sure, but NERV was also responsible for taking in trillions of dollars, leaving millions, even billions homeless, poor, hungry, and desperate. They saved the world from sudden destruction, but in turn left them with nothing but enough to wet their throats.

A car screeched to a halt behind them. Maya, in knowing that she would be with the Third Child outside of NERV, put her hand on the holster inside her jacket. She looked at the car and took her hand out of her jacket. "It's just him."

Shinji stumbled while turning back and grabbed hold of her shoulder, "Ugh... I'm sorry."

She placed his arm on her shoulder and supported him. "I knew it wasn't a smart idea to let you walk around without your crutch. Come on, I think there's someone here to talk to you."

"Someone...?" He turned towards the sound source and saw Kaji smirking at him, an almost proud expression on his face. "Mr. Kaji, what are you doing here? How'd you know I was here?"

"Shinji, what kind of an spy would I be if I didn't know things like that?" He looked at the female logistics officer and smirked. "On the arm of another woman, huh, Shinji?" She blushed but didn't take his arm off of her.

"It-It's not..." He sighed at yet more teasing. "What is it Mr. Kaji? I'm kinda worn out today."

"Who, me? I don't need anything right now, it's someone else that wants something from you." He took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, moving to the side and letting him get a view of her. "Ms. Yamagishi."

From her view on the bottom of that knoll, all she could see was his figure leaning on a distinctively female silhouette. The two dark figures against the intense golden orange of the setting sun seemed surreal, but she knew better than to let her eyes tell her lies. No matter how unreal it seemed, it was him, awake and not surrounded by beeping machines and sacks of morphine and blood.

She didn't move, instead choose to look at her skirt and fold her arms together in the cool wind. "S-Shinji?"

He let go of the woman who supported him. "Mayumi..." Slowly he walked towards her, trying his hardest to not to limp in front of her. With every step, she seemed to get closer and closer to crying, so he came closer and closer, and she continued to fight the tears.

It was too much to fight though. Her sister was gone. She had rejected her mother in anger. Her boyfriend had nearly been killed because she was too stupid to run when he told her to. She had nearly killed him; and he was all too happy to see her. "Sh-Sh-Shinji..."

She let her tears run free when he wrapped her arms around her. She hated it; to cry once again, and in his arms, about her, about him, about everything. Even a rock against the tides will smooth and wear down. "Oh, God... Shinji!"

She sobbed uncontrollably. Her knees gave out under her and she leaned on him once again. She fell to onto her knees and he knelt before her, holding as her body shook gently. Mayumi sobbed sadly, finding comfort in the boy who let his own fears out in tears. They couldn't find words to express what they felt, an amalgam of happiness, sorrow, fear and desperation, so they cried it all out.

Kaji stepped next to the woman. "Maybe they need their privacy."

She looked at them and nodded her head. "I think your right."

They walked to the edge of the cliff and looked at the setting sun. Kaji looked at the rather attractive woman and offered her a cigarette, but was refused. "Not a smoker, huh?"

"No, I think it's a bad habit."

The unshaven man flicked his cigarette into the sea and stared at the setting sun. She appreciated the gesture. "It's a shame, really. If they were normal kids, they might have made a cute couple."

"What do you mean?"

He wouldn't say anything about Mayumi, but it was obvious why Shinji wasn't normal. "He's an Evangelion pilot. 'Rider of the Warhorse', 'The Equestrain', the 'Third Child', the 'Son of the Bastard', and 'The Fated Pilot'; but never  
'Shinji Ikari'."

Every nickname given to Shinji, she thought back, usually had some connection with his ability to pilot or his father. It was a sad truth, but an undeniable one. "I see..."

"The only people to ever know that child as 'Shinji Ikari' are me, you, Misato, and his friends. Every time someone mentions him, he's the pilot of Evangelion Unit-01. Never 'Shinji Ikari'. Even his own father doesn't call him by that." He turned away from the setting sun and towards the two children who were now sitting beneath a tree still crying. "But not to us, not to her. To us, he's Shinji, the teenage boy living with the beautiful purple-haired woman. To her, he's Shinji Ikari, her boyfriend."

"Do you know if... they've said--"

"No-- and I don't think they will." He chuckled and looked back towards the sun as it passed underneath the horizon. "I've seen Shinji's files and her files. I've spent some time with each of them, and I've talked to Misato and even a little with Taini. They won't say it."

"Oh..."

"If he wasn't a pilot, they could have just gone about their business, but unfortunately," he looked towards them once again and towards the graves around them, "that's not the case."

--

It was night time already and Maya had already gotten into her car, waiting for the two children to dry their tears. Kaji had told her to stay, because their was something left to do, so she did. It was the least she could. Kaji leaned against his car and asked, "Are you guys ready?"

They both nodded and lifted themselves from beneath the tree. They walked to the car slowly, Mayumi helping Shinji in whatever way she could. Kaji stopped the young girl. "I'm afraid that Shinji has something he has to do before he can go home."

"B-But..."

Kaji looked at the woman. "Maya, would you mind taking Mayumi home? I'm sure her mother will understand if you were the one to take her."

She looked at the tear-streaked young girl. "I don't mind."

"I have something important to discuss with him," he paused, "it's a private matter."

Shinji just looked at the other people and rubbed the back of his head. "If it's important... Mayumi, go home. I'll see you tomorrow at school, okay?" She looked down at her shoes and nodded. "Okay, we'll talk during lunch."

Maya and Mayumi got into the car and left the seaside cemetery with a cloud of dust in their wake, creating a trail that followed them into the black of night. Kaji looked at Shinji and led him towards the cliff once again, moving slowly so the boy didn't struggle with the walking aid.

They reached the cliff, the night sky now dark as shadows created by street lights, and stared out at the black and ever moving black silk that was the sea. "What was it that you wanted to talk to me about, Mr. Kaji."

"It's about her."

Shinji looked at the sea and let the night wind spread his hair. "What is it?"

"What... what would you do if I were to give you the chance to get her back?"

He dug his crutch into the ground and hesitated, not believing that he could ever truly provide something like that. "I would do whatever it took to get her back, but..." he dug into the soft grass with his crutch once again, "... I can't really do much at the moment."

"Heh, no, I guess not." He turned back towards the graves. "I'll make you this offer, Shinji. Once you recover, I'll give you the opportunity to get her back-- but there's a catch."

Shinji looked at the grave of the agent he came to visit and frowned. "I would think so..."

"In order to do this, you'll have to follow me outside of Tokyo-3. We'll leave the city together and I'll set you up with a friend of mine. You can stay there as long as it takes for me to find more details on her location. But I hope you know, if you say yes, that it will be dangerous. There's a chance that... you might not make it back to Tokyo-3."

The prospect of rescuing Aiko made his chest warm, washing away the doubt he held in his heart of ever laying his eyes on her again. But he kept his emotions in check. If being overemotional inside of an Evangelion got him the way he was now, he could only imagine what could happen without the biomachine. "I might not... make it back." He lowered his head and thought it over. "Why... why do I have to leave the city?"

"I can't say right now, I'll tell you everything once, and if, we leave-- let's go. I'll drive you to Rei's apartment." He looked at Shinji's face, which questioned how he knew that he was living in Rei's apartment, and smiled. "She's probably worried about you."

--

Shinji knocked on the cold door of her apartment and frowned when the door opened without so much as a push from his knuckles. Even if she had been expecting him, it was careless of her. He walked through the door as quietly as possible, took off his shoes, locked the door, and tip-toed towards his futon next to Rei's bed.

To his surprise, he found the girl laying on the bed, arms to her side, with moonlight bathing her in a ethereal blue, her crimson eyes looking directly at him. If it were not for the slow rise and fall of her chest, he would think her dead. She raised herself on her elbows and said, "Your back."

He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I'm sorry if I woke you."

She laid back down and looked at the plain white ceiling. "Don't worry. I could not sleep."

"Oh." He walked over to his futon, leaning his crutch against the somewhat dirty walls, and laid down on his bed, cautiously maneuvering so he would not put pressure on his chest. As he looked at the ceiling, remembering his conversation with Mr. Kaji, he felt the urge to ask her something. "Rei..."

"Yes?"

"Were you... waiting for me to come back?"

She paused in her own uncertainty. "Perhaps. I wasn't aware of your whereabouts, so that may have preoccupied my mind."

"Hmph," he sighed happily, "I'll make sure to call you next time, okay?"

Though he could not see, the stoic girl blushed at his words and consideration. "Okay."

Although all would seem right, the truth was far from tranquil. While the blue-haired girl slept peacefully in the moonlight bath, Shinji stayed wide awake, staring at the white ceiling, thinking and considering Kaji's proposal. He would do anything for Aiko, or so he told himself. The only thing keeping him from packing up his things and calling Kaji right then and there, telling him that it was time to leave the city of steel-blood and angel-flesh was his dear Mayumi.

What would she do if he just up and left? True, he deliberated, even if she hated him for leaving, he could bring back Aiko to her, keep his promise, and be forgiven. Even still there was one more factor that kept him on the futon instead of Kaji's car; the prospect of death.

When he didn't have anyone but himself, when he did not have his friends and Mayumi, he did not fear dying, so long as it was painless and not by his own hand. Now with those invisible bonds that combined his heart with them, death was a prospect that made his legs wobble and shoulders tense. But was he really willing to die for those people? He was willing to ride the purple warhorse, but would he risk himself without that steel and flesh shield?

'I... I don't want to die, and I can't just leave Mayumi alone. She'd cry. I hate it when she cries...'

It seemed every time he talked to Mayumi, there was always some sort of tragedy working in the background, slowly tearing at their hearts until neither could take it. They'd find comfort in each other after they survived from whatever it was that plagued them, be it mysterious medical conditions or angel from the skies, and live to see the next challenge.

But it seemed, at least in his mind, that this could be the last time he'll see everyone. Until he could stand up without the crutch, until he could draw painless air, it would seem he had time with them. All of them, and her. The thought alone made his youthful eyes water, but he had made his decision, he would do all he could to get the child back.

'If I just left it all alone and pass up this opportunity, I may never see her again. I don't think I could go on living with myself if I didn't at least try... damn it. This is just too much!'

He looked over to see Rei's hand hanging off of her bed. 'I hope Rei and Asuka can handle whatever angels come... I'll have to tell someone. Not Mayumi, not Misato... I trust Rei, but.. I think dad might have her under his watch. Asuka... I don't know.'

His eyes closed once, then a second time, time between his long blinks increasing with every flutter of eyelashes. 'I can't tell Kensuke or Touji-- if I did, then Hikari would eventually find out. Then Asuka, and then Mayumi.' He closed his and eyes and didn't open them again that night. 'Ms. Yamagishi... can I tell her? It's a long shot...'

The shaft of light that bathed Rei Ayanami was blocked temporarily by the passing of a large, low-flying plane. The wind blew the large curtains open and allowed the moonbeam to cover Shinji as well as her as the cross hanging under the plane flew in front of the moon.

--

To be continued.

--

Author's Notes: Forgive me if it feels a bit rushed, but I really don't have that much time free at the moment.

Something freaked me the hell out in the process of making this story though. Around the time that I though up Aiko's role in the second book, I met a girl who fit Aiko's personality about... I'd say, 80. She's short too, though not as young. Scared the shit out of me at first; but now I just call her the Peppo. (Gotta watch Gankutsuou to know why.) And that moon/cross thing at the end too! My computer sits at the corner of the room next to a large closet with sliding doors; and I have bars on my window. So when I finished the story with the whole moon, Taini, and cross thingy, I looked behind at the white sliding door and saw that the metal bars had made a cross behind me, and the curtains had made this shape around the cross that looked like a coffin... I was in a fuckin' coffin of moonlight-- with a cross! So I said, "Oh, hell nah! This is how horror movies start," and I left the room.

Anyway... I hope you enjoyed this chapter, since it took so long to make with all the time I've been spending outside the house. Until recently, I've only had about... 5 hours of sleep every two days. I guess graduating high school is a time when one must party. Still, now that it's been some time since graduation, I'll have a lot of free time to write, philosophize, sleep, and just be lazy until I got to get a summer job and go to college.

Peace to the gods of the Earth!

_ XxRagnarokxX88 _


	2. Native Past and SelfExile

Disclaimer: I do not own the Neon Genesis Evangelion series or hold any rights over the character Mayumi Yamagishi, from the 2nd Impression game thingy. Don't sue, cause I'm already broke.

This is the second chapter of "Land of the Midnight Sun," the second book of "Catalyst," an NGE fan fiction. Enjoy.

**Land of the Midnight Sun**

**"Native Past and Self-Exile"**

By: XxRagnarokxX88

Every human being on this earth is born with a tragedy, and it isn't original sin. He's born with the tragedy that he has to grow up. That he has to leave the nest, the security, and go out to do battle. He has to lose everything that is lovely and fight for a new loveliness of his own making, and it's a tragedy. A lot of people don't have the courage to do it.

**- Helen Hayes**

He had a nightmare that night. The nightmare was, a few days prior, a reality, except it turned out differently, it turned out a nayuta times worse. The soldier had a gun to his head and a knife to his girlfriend's throat, and, this time, unfortunately, Kaji was not on the rooftop keeping the soldier's hand steady. No, this time, the bastard had no reason to show mercy. His beloved's delicate neck was sliced, spilling her lifeblood onto her chest and onto him, soaking his clothes and murdering his soul with that image burned into the back of his mind. Even crueler still, the soldier did not kill him. No, in an act of unimaginable heartlessness, the soldier lifted Shinji by his collar, threw him against the wall and tossed Mayumi on top of him, her gash directly in front of lips, soaking the thin skin with coppery crimson, and his eyes to her own trembling lips, kissing his for the last time, whispering over and over, 'I'm sorry, Shinji...'

With a violent shiver he awoke in a cold sweat, pushing himself off the futon and looking around the dim daylight filled room for signs of his Mayumi. His heart was thumping in fear that he may feel her dead weight on his chest. Nothing more than the though of her death gave him such terror; tears stung at his eyes from the horrendous thought.

As if the torture of knowing that Aiko was gone was not enough. He tried over and over, telling himself it was nothing but a nightmarish possibility that did not occur. That it was his imagination gone mad-- but it still bothered him.

Carefully, he turned to his left, wiping away the cold sweat from his face, to see Rei no longer in her bed, but found a note instead. He got up from his bed and looked at the note. 'Went to school, feel better.' Setting aside his nightmare as nothing more than that, he smirked at the girl's growing concern for him. 'She's really friendly, once I got to know her...'

Shinji looked at his cell phone's clock. 'I can still make it before lunch starts... after all, I promise that I'd talk to her--' Even with the knowledge that it was nothing more than paranoia that caused such images, he doubted the fear left by the nightmare would cease tormenting him. '-- I'd better hurry...'

Putting on his school uniform, being cautious about the bandages wrapped around his chest, he grabbed his crutch and set himself towards the school, his true intention still to only comfort Mayumi. And yet, even with his intention set in his mind, he had no idea what to say. What was one to say to someone who had lost so much? To someone who had lost their most precious person?

Shinji had lost his mother and was abandoned by his father, but that was at a young age; he could barely remember his mother at all, anyway. Even though his father was still around, he more or less simply acknowledge his existence, his only reason for not going up to him and punching him in his nose was because the old man had allowed Mayumi into NERV medical care whenever the need arose.

But Mayumi's loss was fresh and deep, like the gash he had imagined in his dream. He flinched at the thought and looked at the school building as it crept ever closer to him. 'I guess... I made it in time.'

He looked over tiredly at the redheaded girl that leaned against the school's entrance. Strangely enough, as far as he could tell, Asuka did not have her usual annoyed expression, nor the saccharine disposition she carried when Mr. Kaji was around. "Asuka?"

She looked at the boy's crutch and sunglasses, a frown forming. "Awfully late, Third Child."

He rubbed the back of his head and took off of his glasses, placing them in his shirt pocket. "Sorry, I got up late this morning."

She closed her eyes for a pause, choosing her words carefully. "She doesn't like how your sleeping in Rei's apartment."

"I... I can't sleep in my room."

"W-Whatever... she's at that hill your usually at."

"T-Thanks..." He walked passed her, only to be stopped by her voice close to his ear.

"I hope your not doing anything perverted with the First, Shinji."

He didn't look back, instead he looked at the hill and back down to his shoes; then walked. "We're not like that... besides, you talk to Mayumi. You should know I'm not like that."

"Phfff... all boys are the same," she said as she walked back towards Hikari and the other girls.

Ignoring Asuka's distrust, he continued through the halls, paying no heed to the stares he received from the remaining students and faculty, and arrived at the foot of the hill. He found her laying down on the grass, possibly sleeping when she could not at home, with her glasses off. 'What am I going to say...?'

Cautiously, he moved up the hill, his crutch no longer at his side but at the bottom of the hill, and sat down next to the sable-haired girl. She was asleep, breathing calmly beneath the star called the sun. As far as he could guess, she probably couldn't sleep well in her home, haunted by the silent laughs and nonexistent footsteps of her dearest Aiko.

Was it a relief that she was asleep? Maybe he wouldn't have to talk to her about the subject he dreaded if he just let her sleep. Was that wrong to desire? He didn't know. She had wanted to talk to him, so would it wrong to let her sleep, even if it disturbed her peace of mind?

He could have runaway when he had the chance, but he couldn't. Not from her. Gently, he shook her shoulder lightly, but got no response. "Mayumi... Mayumi...," he whispered softly, not wanting to startle her awake, "wake up, Mayumi."

Her eyes flickered opened at the sound of her name. She raised her arm and blocked the sun as it hit her irises. "Hmm? W-Who is it?" She stared at the silhouette as the colors of him filled in. "Shinji...?"

He smiled at her sleepy expression, finding beauty in her look of confusion. "You doing alright?"

She looked to her side and placed her glasses on, then stared back at the tired royal blue eyes of her beloved Shinji. "No...," she whispered softly, "but, I'm glad you came. I know you must be tired after everything you've done..."

Not knowing what to do, he stared out at the rest of the students as they gathered in their cliques and did their usual routines. "No, this is just a bruise, really..."

They both stayed quite, one unsure of how to comfort, the other too self-conscious to do anything but look at her skirt. One would have to act to do anything, something other than waste the little amount of time they had together. She was his girlfriend, he thought, it was up to him. He slowly grabbed the girl's hand, a soft 'hmm' escaping her lips from the unexpected move, and raised her to sit. She continued to look at her skirt even as he placed his arm around her.

She could not help but let everything go from there. She was not loud, but she sobbed quietly, desperately, onto and through his shirt, onto his bandages and to his bruised flesh. All she did was cry, she though pessimistically, doing nothing but fear and dread, but what could she do but to show her weakness to him? She had lost everything but him.

He looked down at her and held her tighter. 'It would have been better... if she never came to Tokyo-3... then maybe, she could be with Aiko. Even if I stayed unhappy, she could be with her sister...'

That was when it all came together. He couldn't risk her safety any longer. No matter how much he wanted her presence, no matter how much he desperately needed her touch, she had to leave the city. He never heard of angels attacking outside of Tokyo-3, and he had not heard of unknown armies attacking any city but his own. 'I have to get her out of here...'

"Oh, Shinji! I want her back! I want my sister back!" she sobbed desperately, knowing that her words would not be answered by him, "Why did they t-take her! Why Aiko!"

"I don't know..." she bought her legs closer to her and sunk deeper onto him, crying like a mother who had lost her child, "Mayumi... we'll get her back, somehow... just trust me, we'll get her back."

Though she had wanted to talk to him about something more uplifting, it seemed the child was more important than anything else in the world.

--

Shinji had managed to calm her down before lunch was over, he even managed to get through the school without drowning himself in sorrow over a particular empty seat in the back of the room, but he had no idea how he was going to talk to Mayumi's mother about what had to be done.

In order to assure Mayumi's safety, he had to get her out of there. The only way to do that was to convince her mother that it was too dangerous to stay in Tokyo-3. The only problem he found was finding an excuse to talk to her, since he did not wish to arose Mayumi's suspicion.

'How am I going to talk to her? I can go over to her house, but then Mayumi would find out... knowing her, she wouldn't want to leave.'

Shinji walked towards his apartment, his crutch slowing him down, and thought on the subject. He had dropped off Mayumi at her home and had told her why he was sleeping in Rei's apartment. Though she had been very clear with him that she did not like the idea of them sleeping under the same roof, she had understood why he could not find peace in his own room; since she herself could not stand the sight of Aiko's empty bed.

Now he was back, back to the apartment with memories of the pure child alive on his couch, futon, even the walls, only because he knew that Misato could help him when it came to what he had to do. 'Misato will understand...'

Once he arrived inside the apartment, he left a message on Rei's answering machine, though he doubted she would notice the blinking red light beneath the dust, and waited for Misato. He fed the bird that pecked at his leg and waited impatiently.

After the sun had fallen below the horizon and twilight had appeared, he heard the turn of the doorknob and the clack of his guardian's boots. It was a relief, but also unnerving. How to bring up such a subject, after all?

Misato walked in with a blank expression, tired from work, but happy enough to be home to balance the fatigue. She looked at the young boy on her couch and blinked. 'He's back...' She was happy to have her Shinji back. It hadn't been too long since he left; she figured it was simply her buried mother inside that gave her such loneliness, so it was strange to be so elated by his simple smile.

It was funny, she thought, how she had allowed herself to become attached to the boy on a deeper level than guardianship. "Glad to see your home, Shin-chan. Feeling any better?"

He smiled at her; he had missed her, even though he had voluntarily left the home. "Only a little... how've you been Misato?"

She walked through the hallway into her room and talked while she changed into her casual clothing. "I've been okay. Not much work for me at the moment, so I'm just doing what I can. Same-ol'-same-ol'. What about you? How've you been over at Reeeeiii's place?" she teased politely.

Despite his fidelity towards Mayumi, he still blushed at her insinuations. "Y-You know I wouldn't--"

She walked out of her room with her tank top and short-shorts, a beer in hand despite her lack of entrance into the kitchen, and plopped down next to the bashful pilot. She missed her chances to tease the teen, so she took full opportunity. "So, Shinji..." she said hopefully while placing her arm around the boy's shoulders, "... are you gonna be staying here for good...? Or is it still too early?"

He blushed brightly when he felt her chest press against his side, "I-I... I think..." He thought about what he would have to ask, and decided it would be better to stay with his guardian, "... just for today. Mayumi doesn't really like me staying at Rei's, so I guess I'll stay here tonight..."

She hugged the boy tightly and lifted him off the couch. "Great! I haven't eaten anything nutritious in days!"

"Gah! Mi-Mi-Misato! I'm already injured!"

She let go of her charge and squealed. "Food! Food! Food! Finally! I swear you've spoiled me, Shinji-- I can't go back to TV dinners, you know."

He rubbed the back of his head and laughed at the woman's immaturity. "I get the hint-- I'll get dinner started."

--

Asuka pushed the door open to her apartment and strolled inside, kicked her shoes off and stopped when the aroma of home cooked food reached her sensitive nostrils. "Mien Gott... it smells edible!" She rushed over into the living room and found Misato chopping away happily at her meal while Shinji ate at a calm pace. They mattered little when she found only two plates set up at table. "W-What...? Where the hell is my food!"

Misato stuck her tongue out at the redhead. "You weren't here when Shinji came home, so tough!"

She felt her heart sink when Misato took the last bite off her plate. "Ah... a-ahh..."

Shinji looked at the girl's disappointed expression and hid his laugh poorly. "Don't worry, Asuka. I figured you'd want something other than Misato's cooking and TV dinners," he left his seat and placed a plate of food onto the table he had hid in Misato's beer fridge, "Misato's idea to upset you."

Asuka shot a death glare to the purple haired woman then towards the Third Child. "If you ever leave again, and I have to eat Misato's poor excuse for sustenance, you'll need more than a crutch!"

Shinji sat down once again and ate his meal. "Then who would make your food," he asked nonchalantly.

"Hmpph!" She huffed and dug into her meal. "Damn it, Shinji, just because the First is a vegetarian doesn't mean you have to be stingy with the meat!"

"Just eat it."

Misato pat her stomach and burped before getting herself another beer. "I sure am glad to have you back, Shinji! I miss you feeding Pen-Pen, doing the laundry, feeding me..."

As Misato listed her numerous reasons for missing her charge, he could not help but smile. Kaji had told him that, after he recovered, it might be his last time seeing Tokyo-3, and that meant seeing Misato, Mayumi, Rei, Asuka, Hikari, Touji and Kensuke. He should enjoy their presence while he could; so he smiled.

Asuka finished her food and looked at the Third as he smiled at their guardian. Normally, he would have feigned his annoyance as Misato talked about 'why she liked having him there', but now he wore no mask. Still, there was something in his smile that bothered her; something that seemed so sad and forlorn that it made the hair on her arm stand.

"What are you smiling about Third?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just happy to be home," he said with a sheepish smile.

She knew he was lying, but she had no evidence, no motive, no incentive to know other than sating her curiosity. "Yeah, well, whatever... make sure to get up early and make my lunch."

Still, his smile did not leave. "Sure."

She raised her eyebrow at his response; something was definitely wrong.

--

That night, after he had asked Misato to invite Taini over the next day for some tea or some other fabricated reason, he awoke to a sound outside his window. He got up quickly, ignoring the slight pain in his chest, and leaned against the wall his windows was on.

The wind howled lazily, but loudly, sending a shiver down his spine to his feet, and sent the trash in the alleyway to the streets. It was funny, he thought acerbically, how little things like wind moving through narrow passages sent even adults mind on edge, forcing their minds to face childish fears and imagined demons and ghosts in every dark corner and shadowy bend.

For some reason, he stared at the middle of the alleyway, at the moonlit middle surrounded by the shadows set off by rooftop angles, and concentrated as leaves and trash were blown through. The scene, for some deep seeded and consciously unknown reason, scared him to the core. 'Why is this so... scary? Maybe I'm going crazy...'

Looking up, he found the moon glowing brightly above him. As he looked at the surface, he could not help but think of Mayumi's mother. He could not understand why; maybe it was because he feared his conversation with her? He convinced himself as much and went back to sleep once the wind howled no more.

It was only after the moon had hidden in the blue, cloudless sky and the sun had taken her place that Shinji found comfort from the cold wind and nightmarish phantasmagoria that plagued his thoughts when he closed his eyes. That morning he did his usual routine; showering, dressing, making breakfast and lunches for both he and Asuka, and went to school.

He talked to Touji, Kensuke, and Rei, and once he had finished his lunch he went to his usual spot. It seemed every time he went there, Kensuke had mentioned, if he were not sleeping, something bad was usually in the works; so they did not follow, after Rei advised as much.

Shinji slept on top of the hill, since Mayumi was nowhere on the soft grass, and gathered some peaceful rest. He would need his energy, he thought sleepily, since that day was the day he would talk to Mayumi's mother about his plans. And even though he knew it was the best course of action to go after Aiko, he felt guilty about sending Mayumi outside of Tokyo-3, even if it meant sending her away from the dangerous angel attacks, without discussing it with her. But it was for the best.

He found her after school waiting for him at the school gates. She told him that she wasn't at the hill that day since Hikari and Asuka thought it their responsibility to cheer her up.

They walked to her home as they usually did, holding hands whenever Shinji felt sadness overcome Mayumi when a short or eccentric child crossed their path. Something about a girl's hand, the slenderness of Mayumi's fingers and the soft steeliness of them, always made him nervous; but not recently. It was strictly his concern for her emotional well-being that kept his palms dry.

They reached her home at last. Reluctantly, she let go of his hand. "T-Thanks, Shinji... you didn't have to walk me here. I'm better, really. Your the one that shouldn't be walking around."

Every time she talked, he could not help but stare at her neck; at the thin line where the soldier had held a knife to her. 'But she's here... right in front of me! Get yourself together...' he thought. "No, I hate being lazy."

"Well... umm... bye, Shinji. I'll see you tomorrow." She didn't want him to go, but she didn't want to ask more of him. It would have been selfish, she thought.

Shinji sat down on the steps leading to her house and laid his crutch against the lower steps. "You don't want me to leave, right?"

Her eyes darted from him to everything but him. 'How did... was I that obvious!' "I... I mean-- It's okay! I know your probably busy..." She stayed silent when he took her hand once more and made her sit next to him, on the stone step above his own. "I'm being a bother... aren't I?"

"Don't say thing that you know aren't true."

She looked at her hand and how it was intertwined with his own fingers, and blushed only slightly. Even after she had told him she wanted to talk and all she did was cry, he was there once again, holding her hand and letting her have a shoulder to lean on; so she did.

He had gotten bolder, too, she noticed. When she had first met him, she couldn't have imagined him doing the things he did now without provocation. It was just the circumstances that made her want to cry. "... we'll get her back, right? What could they possibly want with her, anyway..."

Shinji, even with the doubt in his mind of returning alive, knew he would bring Aiko back to her sister. Mr. Kaji would provide that chance, and he could not fail, he would not break his promise again. "Of course we'll get Aiko back. Just wait, Section 2 will find her soon. I'll use my Evangelion if I had to."

She nestled next to him and sighed sadly, the words she wished to utter inching closer and closer from her heart to her lips. "Shinji... I... I..." She looked at his tired eyes and let her own water, drowning in the pitiableness of her inability to say the three words she ached to say to him. "I..."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you two."

Both looked at the sophisticated woman that had stumbled upon them. Shinji would have gotten up, but the girl squeezed his hand. "H-Hi, Ms. Yamagishi. How're you doing?"

She smiled at the two children who were no longer so sad, happy for them in their found comfort, and said, "I've been better, Mr. Ikari. Are you two doing well?" Both nodded their heads with a deep blush. "I see. Well, it's a good thing your here Mr. Ikari. Misato invited me over for tea... and beer, if I remember correctly. I wouldn't want to walk there all alone."

Mayumi let go of his hand and stood up. "I-I have to give you something before you go... it'll only be a second."

As she entered her home and rushed up the stairs, Shinji looked at the slightly tanned business woman in front of him. Her bay colored irises where surrounded by the clear white of her eyes, but he could notice the redness inside and the bags underneath them. A mother would be hit hardest, he thought. "Ms. Yamagishi... is it a bad time?"

"Oh, no. I'm grateful for the chance to get my mind off work... and other things... Oh! She's back."

Shinji looked back at the sable-haired girl and noticed her holding two pictures frames. He looked curiously at them and then at her. "For me?"

She nodded, but said nothing.

Carefully, as if the pictures were made of porcelain, he turned them over and gulped as he saw them; a picture of the three members of the Yamagishi family, and one of Aiko, smiling wide. "I..." He didn't know what to say, all he could do was stare at the picture of Aiko. "... Thank you..."

The girl blinked away her tears and hugged the boy. "I-I'll see you tomorrow, right? I know it's not a school day, bu--"

"If it's alright with you," he turned to her mother, "Ms. Yamagishi, would you mind if I took your daughter somewhere tomorrow?"

The older woman smiled and laughed politely at the boy's attempt at propriety. "As long as you bring her back at a reasonable time, I see no problems with that. Now, let's go. I hate being late."

--

"This is me. I want extra surveillance around 707 for the next three days. Yes... yes... no, that will not be necessary. And also, have the taps within the First Child's home reactivated-- sound only. That is all."

"On another note," began Fuyutsuki, "it seems your son has become quite the ladies' man; even Rei has warmed up to him, considerably. She's even let him into her apartment-- for sleep, of course."

The man stayed quite, but rested his elbows on the black steel of his desk. His right hand man was the only one who knew his tendencies, being his old professor it only made sense, so he didn't need to say how he felt about his son's relationship with the First Child.

"Hmm... we still haven't turned up anything about the unknown force that attacked as well. All their dead had nothing to identify them with."

"There's no need to wonder. It was SEELE attempting to abduct the Yamagishi girl. They caused quite a bit of damage, but at least they failed. Now all that's left is to heighten our forces on a black budget."

"Well, I wouldn't say they were entirely unsuccessful. They did take the youngest daughter-- Taini's second child."

"Remind me again why we allowed such a person to enter theses walls?-- And to have amnesty from all courts on our behalf," he asked with a slight edge of annoyance.

"Keeping in mind that she is responsible for the deaths of several high degree SEELE members, there is no way that any court would give her a fair trail, seeing as how they control most. They'd probably go so far as to send her to the guillotine... also, she is the step daughter of two important members of SEELE. We're certain she has no connection with them now, but it would be beneficial to have her under our watch. Aside from that, she is the mother of Mayumi Yamagishi."

"The Angel Girl... even though she has sent us many financial burdens, she will repay her debt and then some," he lifted himself from his desk and stared outside the window that allowed him to see high over the geo-front grounds, "besides, she's made those old geezers in SEELE sweat. That alone was worth the repair costs for Unit-01."

The white-haired man chuckled. "So it would seem."

--

He opened the door of his apartment with the turn of his key and allowed the mother Yamagishi to walk inside first. She smiled at his manners and stepped inside, setting her low heels to the side, and sat on the soft couch that centered the living room. Though she had much in her mind that would make her go into her home and cry, she was happy to know her daughter had chosen wisely; such a meek and polite boy, she thought, made the expression 'like mother, like daughter' very true.

Shinji sat opposite of her and sighed, not fully knowing how he was suppose to talk to her about his plan. He, of course, wouldn't mention how he planned to leave Tokyo-3 in search of her daughter, so as to avoid being persuaded otherwise. He set his mind on it and wasn't running away from his task. "Ms. Yamagishi... I know Misato invited you over here, but the truth is..."

"You have something you want to discuss with me in private, right?"

"Huh? Y-Yeah... how did you know?"

"I didn't really know, I simply guessed by the way you looked. Your not very good at hiding your emotions, Mr. Ikari."

"I..." He rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "It's about you and Mayumi, Ms. Yamagishi. I want you two to get out of here."

She looked at the boy's worried look and stared with a blank expression. "You want... you want us to leave? Why would you want that?"

"It's just too dangerous for you two to be here!" he began desperately, "Mayumi could have been killed plenty of times! This is the only city I've heard of getting attacked by angels! We got attacked for no reason-- if it wasn't for Mr. Kaji, Mayumi, me, and Rei could be dead! I need you and Mayumi to just leave this city! To get to some sort of safety!"

She looked surprised at the boy's outburst, flattered by his care for her and her family, but saddened by the futility of his pleas. "Calm down... even if we wanted to leave, we couldn't."

"B-But why not? If it's about money, I have some saved up-- it's more than enough for two plane tickets--"

"Shinji! Your not listening." She reclined in her seat and sighed. "We can't leave this city."

Shinji ran his hand through his hair and looked at the floor. "But why not? I can't bear to have Mayumi in danger every day here... Aiko's gone... because she was here! I don't want to lose her too..."

The older woman looked at him softly. 'Just like him...' Slowly she walked over to the boy and sat down next to him, patting his back. "Shinji... your in love with my daughter, aren't you? My Mayumi..."

Such a concept; love. What was it? Who indulged in it without experiencing pain? Who knew when it was the proper time to say they were in love? And who exactly could have such emotions towards someone as pathetic as him? As far as he could tell, no one but his mother and Aiko had said, "I love you, Shinji," and even then the memory was fuzzy and possibly just a childhood illusion created by someone desperately trying to justify breathing-- and he could accept the young girl's love, since he had failed her so horribly.

To that moment, he had no idea why Mayumi had chosen him. Out of the goodness of her heart? Because he could pilot? Why?-- Why? Why? Why! He couldn't say. He was pathetic, but he held her heart, and she held his own. He didn't deserve to, he thought scathingly, he had done nothing to deserve such a girl. All he had to offer was protection for Aiko, to be whatever she wanted him to be, but he had failed. He failed both of them.

He put his head to his palm and let tears flow out. It was his turn to be comforted, because the shield had been pierced by angels and humans alike. "I don't know...," he choked out weakly, "I couldn't protect her... I don't deserve to..."

--

Asuka stared out at the blue skies and bright sun that adorned the eternally blue. She had heard everything, all of Shinji's attempt at getting Mayumi away from the angel fortress city and the indecisiveness of his feelings towards the sable-haired girl. All she could do was lay down in her room and stare out her window and listen to it all.

She was no fool, she was fully aware of how teenagers would often, in their confusion and arrogance in their ability to comprehend the feelings of another, say 'I love you' to one another in more than amity. They would deal with the issues of grown children and cry and laugh and cry and laugh, and say they love each other until their hormones conquered their better judgment. It was typical; but it was not Shinji.

"That idiot..." she whispered to no one, "... if he loved her so much, he should know there's no better place to stay than here. The Evangelions are here. I'm here."

She turned over in her restlessness and laid her head on the pillow. 'I wonder if he'll ever say that to her... nah, he wouldn't have the guts to say something like that, even if she said it to him first.'

She stood up from her bed and poked her head out to see Shinji's elbows on his knees. 'What the hell is he crying about? Is it really that hard to lo-- like someone? Geez...' Her steel blue eyes wandered to Taini's arm as she attempted to comfort him. 'Misato and Ms. Yamagishi too? It's like he has two mommy's... whatever.'

Asuka plopped back down on her bed and stared outside the window once more, denying her subconscious jealousy towards Shinji being cooed by the older woman. 'Crybaby...'

--

He had let out his frustration and now sat embarrassed across from his girlfriend's mother. With his face flushed and curiosity in need of sating, he got up from his seat and walked over to his kitchen. "W-Would you like some tea, Ms. Yamagishi? I wouldn't want to have you over here completely under false pretense..."

'False pretense... Mayumi's teaching him well...' She smiled at the boy and nodded. "Yes, I'd love some tea."

He fumbled around the kitchen drawers and finally found the necessary pot. Filling the pot with water, he turned to the dark-haired woman, "Umm... we don't have anything besides Earl Grey and Chamomile..."

"Chamomile, please."

"Coming right up," he said with some life back in his voice. He placed the herbs into the boiling water and sat down at the table. "It'll be a while..."

The older woman smiled and understood his request. "Then let's talk a bit-- while we wait." The woman stood up, straightening the skirt's hem of her business suit and sat down across from him. "I suppose you want to know about why me and Mayumi can't leave Tokyo-3, right?"

"Y-Yes... if you don't mind."

"Okay... it's a bit of a depressing story, I may even need you to give me some tissues, but if you really need to know, then I'll tell you. I've always been a good story teller, at least I think so." She cleared her throat and folded her legs. "I'll start with me; I'm in my early forties--"

"Early forties...? But you look..."

"Thank you... but that's how old I am-- it's all a matter of what you eat. I'd tell you exactly how old I am, but part of my alias is to tell you I'm thirty-four. It's flattering, really."

"Your... alias?-- Oh, the tea!" He left his seat and poured himself and the woman the chamomile. "It's a little too hot..."

"No, it's fine... anyway, I go under an alias. I kept my first name because I refused to change it... sentimental reasons. My grandfather gave it to me. Taini..."

"It's... a really pretty name... It suits you."

"Your good at flattery, Mr. Ikari..." She shook her head and took a sip from her cup. "My grandfather was a very traditional man, always told me stories, nothing real just simple storytelling, and I loved hearing him. About the animals, the stars, the world... I don't even remember how much I cried when he died. I eventually stopped the tears, though... since, before he left this world, he told me that a person's death should not be a time to mourn, it should be a time to celebrate their life and their accomplishments. To cry is fine, since you lost the physical form of someone precious, but one shouldn't be elegiac for long."

She wiped at her eyes and took another sip of tea. "'Learn what I have taught you and live for your people!' He said to me... and I couldn't help but cry. But he meant too much to me for me to cry for long. So I dried my tears and went on with my life."

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. It's because of him I became who I am today." She smiled and once again carefully sipped her tea. "Anyway... after he died, we had some financial troubles. My father couldn't keep up with the bills, and my mother was ill. I loved them both dearly, but we were a very traditional family in a modern age. Then, the Second Impact happened. Everything changed then... my father and mother, they died from the rising waters, but I had made it. A large piece of floating bark, if I remember correctly..."

Even though his answer was left answered, he didn't want to provoke the woman's harsh past. "I-It's okay, Ms. Yamagishi... if it's hard to talk about it, you don't have to..."

"No, no. It's fine." Taking her final sip of tea, she continued. "Fortunately, I was adopted by a wealthy family. Unlike so many of the other children in the wake of Second Impact, my experience with dire poverty and scrounging for food ended only a year after my parents' deaths. I didn't really care for them, even if they saved me from living in the woods and mass orphanages, though I had appreciation. They had little to do with how I became me, they just sent me to school and never talked to me."

"So... were you happy?"

"Not really," she said nonchalantly, "I just went through the motions of living... until I found out what my parents were up to. They were always going somewhere at night, disappearing and reappearing out of nowhere. I though it was just because they were rich and could afford to go out at night-- I wish it were just that. They were part of a powerful organization called SEELE. I didn't really care until I heard rumors of 'an organization so secretive, so in control that one was not to whisper about it above his breath'."

"SEELE...?"

"I did some research after I heard that SEELE was up to some rather negative things... but it was hard. Nothing on TV even mentioned this organization. There was some things on the web, but I couldn't base too much on them. Then I started listening to free radio, mostly raging lunatics, but I found a man who had been involved with them before-- a traitor to SEELE."

"And what did he say?"

"Told me a lot-- how SEELE was involved with Second Impact, how they had orchestrated it... over something they called 'Adam'. I'm still not sure if he was right about that..."

Shinji took a sip from his tea and leaned against his chair. "Asuka told me that Second Impact didn't start from a meteor impact like every one said. I asked Misato about it later and... she said it was true, that it was all lies."

The woman stirred her empty cup and looked hard at it's white inside. "So he was right... After he told me all these different things about how this organization had existed centuries before, and had managed to take control of most the world, I couldn't just stand by and live with those people. So, one day, I just packed up everything I had and left. I stole as much money from them as I could and moved here to Japan." She watched as Shinji got up from his seat and poured her some more tea. "Thank you... I would have felt guilty about it, but if what the man had said was true, then I might as well have stolen a dollar from a bank... they would probably still want it, though."

"S-So what happened then? You got married and had Mayumi and Aiko?"

"In short, I suppose you could say that... I became a cop, thinking that I could provide some sort of justice. And, when it came to little things, I did. But after learning everything I did, I had to spread it, to tell everyone about the atrocities of SEELE... but everyone just thought I was crazy. Eventually I began thinking I was... then an attempt was made on my life."

Shinji's blood froze. "Who tried to kill you?"

"SEELE, I assume. I was shot, right here," she pointed above her left breast, "I would have died too, but I was saved by a man-- he later became my husband," she said with a smile, "so I left the force and went into hiding. I had made the mistake about speaking of SEELE too loudly-- and there was no turning back."

"So you got into a witness protection program?"

"No... they would have caught me that way. I went underground and had my first child, my Mayumi. I was so happy... to have a child with the man I loved so much..."

Shinji could not help but smile at the woman's motherly affection.

"We grew up poor, but we were happy. We even continued spreading the word against SEELE through word of mouth, but just enough to still keep our animosity. Then... well... my husband died."

There was an entirely different story, so Shinji left it alone. "I'm sorry..."

"I was so... I was so afraid. I was alone in the world with my daughter, who I didn't even know how to feed... it was a very rough time for us."

"That's so sad... but... what happened to your husband?-- If it's okay with you. I don't want to... umm..."

She took a sip of tea and cleared her throat. "... Back then... I was forced to do something that even now makes me want to cry my eyes out...I'll tell you about him some other time-- after all, I still have others things to say; and that's an entirely different story. So... when I was still with my rich step-parents, they had been rather forceful of me learning the art of masonry. It wasn't hard for me, since I helped my grandfather build my first house when my father and mother were busy finding work. I think it had something to do with SEELE, but when I ran away, I left with that knowledge and I turned it into a personal trade. I found Mayumi a babysitter and worked freelance, floating from job site to job site..."

He was too interested into what she had to say to blink too often. He drank the tea and listened to her tear soaked words. "I still wouldn't find peace, though. Even after I met someone and had Aiko, I still could not escape the occasional SEELE agent. I was always armed."

"Did... did you kill any of them?"

She sighed. "I had no other choice-- and it was not as if I had training other than an occasional practice round in an alley... they were usually dressed in black, so it was easy. Besides, they didn't know how I looked then, so they made it obvious when they searched. In any case, I never married again, but he was fine with that. We were together for quite some time, even Aiko still had some pleasant memories of him. But..."

His anger towards the organization was beginning to grow. "SEELE."

"Yes... it seemed I had the horrible fate of having my men die for me," she chuckled sadly, "but it's not as if I regretted being with them, on the contrary, they, aside from my daughters, were the best things in my life. It's because I love them so much, that I couldn't stand by and let their deaths be meaningless. I joined several small groups against SEELE, but it still wasn't enough. I went too far one day, I found out about a small time politician working for the organization who had set up several orphanages. On the outside, he was a good man-- but he also ran twice as many sweat shops and child prostitution rings. I snuck into his house and killed him."

Shinji had no idea of what to say. She had killed someone, but he was clearly a bad man. Was it right to take the life of a man who fed the poor children at the cost of their innocence? "I... I don't really know what to say..."

"I don't feel bad about it, if that's what you think. Rumors even had it that he was involved with the city riots that had nearly placed Tokyo-2 under martial law. Apparently, he had members of Japanese military dress up as citizens and police members. He was the case of a lot of bloodshed... but I killed him, and I was caught."

"T-They caught you! Then how..."

"They put me in shackles and tortured me... look," she lifted her skirt's hem high enough to show a jagged scar running up her thigh, "I thought they were going to kill me..."

"What happened after they caught you...?" he asked cautiously.

"The cruelest thing possible... they let me live. They kept me locked up, and took my child."

His breath caught in his throat. "T-They took Mayumi? Aiko?"

"No..." she whispered down at her tea, "... I was only a few months pregnant, but they aborted my child... he could have been my first son..."

He knew it was a bad idea to talk about a troubled past, but he had no idea what the mother had gone through in all her years. The cold feeling in his stomach and the dryness in his throat all worked to tell him one obvious and unavoidable fact; he had opened his own personal Pandora's box. "Ms. Yamagishi... I'm so sorry, I didn't know."

She stared at the small pool of liquid in her tea cup and sighed behind her sob. "It's okay, it's okay... It was a long time ago. I'm fine-- really." 'Why am I telling him all of this?'

He knew never better than to just sit there and look stupid. This was his girlfriend's mother, what right did he have to not comfort her? Quickly, he left his seat and knelt next to the older woman, placing his hand over her own trembling fingers. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have been so nosy... please, let's just drop the subject... I can guess why you can't leave Tokyo-3 with Mayumi from what you've said, there's no need to go on..."

She smiled at his concern and let what few tears she had left fall into her tea. "Thank you, Shinji... I'm sorry to trouble you with this, but I guess I needed to tell someone I could trust... my daughter's very lucky to have someone like you."

"No, I'm the lucky one, Ms. Yamagishi..." He closed his eyes sadly when she wrapped her arms around his head and sighed with infinite melancholy. 'Don't worry... I'll get your daughter back for you, even if I don't make it back myself...'

--

Who in the world so wide and blue had a smile so weak to be nearly unnoticed, except from those whom she allowed to witness? Who in the world so wide and blue had a smile so powerful that it could unleash the fury, or crush the soul, of The Fated Pilot? The sable-haired bookworm, so weak in form yet strong in will, had such meekness and power in her smile, and it would be a tragedy to misuse it.

"Mayumi... where do you want to go? I know we've never gone on an official date, but..."

She smiled at the boy, and, for the brief moment they would stay together that day, put her worries behind her. "Then what do you call all those times we went to the library and outlook?"

"I just... though that you wanted to..."

"No, no... as long as I'm with you, it's not really important where we go. I don't really like going to restaurants or anywhere with large crowds anyway... I'd prefer being somewhere alone, with you..."

"Mayumi..." slowly, he walked towards her and hugged her. A simply gesture, but one that brought out a deep shade of pink to his girlfriend's cheeks. "I'll leave where we're going up to you, okay?"

She blushed brightly and raised her hands to hide the heated skin. Such flattery would have been unbecoming had it not been from the boy she become so enamored by. "F-Fine... but don't complain, okay?"

Once he regained his composure, he smile softly at the girl's embarrassment and lead her out the door. "I won't. Like you, I don't really care where we go."

After her date with him was over, she knew full well in her heart that she would weep once again for her sister, so she laughed lightly at his attempt at flirting, since it touched her heart so, and lead him towards their destination. "Come on, I've never been there before, so it'll be fun."

As the children left the house, Taini and Misato chuckled at Shinji's change. It seemed that Mayumi had changed his personality for the better, they thought. His manners, his diction, everything on the surface was improved; and even more so in his outlook on life.

Her Shin-Chan was growing up, as well as Taini's daughter, she thought elatedly. 'Hehe! Has my Shin-Chan found the one, I wonder? Oh, I'll have to tease him about that later-- maybe another kiss in front of his Mayumi? Nah, I don't want to tease the same way twice...'

Taini looked at the door they had left through and looked back down at the table she and Misato sat in front of. "Misato... may I ask you something?"

"Yeah, shoot."

"Has Shinji ever mentioned anything about loving my daughter?"

She placed a finger to her lip in thought and shook her head. "Nope. I mean, I can tell he does, but he's never verbalized it-- it's obvious. It makes me a little jealous even. I use to have Shinji at home all the time; he'd be like my drinking buddy who didn't drink, you know?"

The mother looked at the tactician's eyes as she talked about Shinji and came to a conclusion. "Have you told him you love him? I mean, I know your his guardian, but...the way you speak or act when Mayumi is near Shinji..."

Misato looked at the mother, confused as to what she meant. "Huh? The way I act when Mayumi's near Shinji?"

"Well, I've only heard from what Aiko... what Aiko has told me, but from what she had told me, it seems that your jealous of Mayumi?"

"Jealous? Of Mayumi!"

"Like... when a mother realizes she is no longer the one that hold's the biggest part of her son's heart."

--

"Oh... I barely noticed..."

"Hmm? Noticed what?"

"Your crutch... you don't need it anymore?"

"No, I'm fine. I can't start hobbling around at this age."

The girl smiled at his resilience and stared back out at the ocean. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly in the azure skies and the oceans sparkled underneath it all. Beside her sat the pilot of Unit-01, her boyfriend, her Shinji. It felt good to think that, she only wished to say it loudly. "Say, Shinji... you don't mind being here, do you? I mean, I haven't gone to the beach once since I came here..."

"I like the beach; but I can't swim. It's fine though, as long as I don't get too close to the waves."

She smiled at the boy as he stretched out his legs and arms in the sand next to her. He had taken off his shirt and had nothing but his blue undershirt and rolled up pants on. She couldn't help but smile at her somewhat scrawny boyfriend. "I'm glad your feeling better."

He frowned and stared at the sky, knowing full well what his good health meant, of what was to come. "I guess so..."

With every inch of his twitching lip, her own lips twitched into a sad frown. Something was bothering him, and she assumed that it was about her sister. And as much as she missed her sister, no matter how much it hurt, that day was for them to get their minds off the pressures of the world. Ignoring her lack of self-confidence, she placed her hand atop of his and laid down next to him. "It's... it's a really nice day today, isn't it?"

"Y-Your right..."

"I know we really aren't dressed for the beach, I'm sorry... but it's warm and there's a cool breeze," she gazed at the crashing waves as they hit the destroyed buildings in the distance, "it's a beautiful day..."

"Not dressed for it? I guess so..." he sat up on the sand and took off his shoes and socks, "there! Now it's not so bad."

She couldn't describe how little a gesture sent her heart fluttering. She blushed and did the same, letting herself feel the soft sands between her toes. "Yeah... that's better." Her simple pleasure was interrupted pleasantly as Shinji grabbed her left foot. "H-Hu-Huh? Sh-Shinji?"

Playfully he teased her foot until she rolled around in the sand giggling blithely, laughing as the tears of glee rolled off her cheeks and to the sand, trying to get free, but not forcefully so. "Sh-Shin--hehe-Shinji! S-Stop t-ha-that!"

He smirked at her as the beach sand clouded her sable hair. "So your ticklish, huh?"

She kicked her feet and freed herself, "N-No, no I'm not! You just caught me by surprise, that's all!"

Her laughter, free from the pressures that life had forced her to carry, sounded like fragments of an unchained melody. He needed to hear more it, to lift the weight of the world and Evangelion off his and her shoulders, so they could share an intimate moment before he left to bring back her world, becoming the atlas he would be for her, even if she did not want such a life for him. "Is that so? Then you won't mind if I did that again?"

"W-Wait! Shinji, don't!" She laughed and ran from him as he leapt from the ground and chased her. "Shinji, quit it! I'm serious!" She knew her words were meaningless, since her laughter rose over all to him, even before the distant crashing waves.

She tripped over a thick clump of sand and fell onto the beach, laughing as Shinji fell near her and tickled her sides. It was these types of moment she expected to never experience; it felt so good, so utterly pleasant and carefree. "Sh-Shinji! St-Stop it!"

Seeing the tears run down her face, he stopped and sat down next to her, a smirk vivid on his face. "I didn't know you where ticklish... I'm glad you are."

She looked at his eyes and pouted. "That's not fair."

Her childish disposition on the subject made a tired smile cross his face. "Mayumi... I..."

Was he finally going to say it, she wondered with her heart thumping faster. "W-What is it?"

'Come on, Shinji! Get it together! She wants you to say it-- just look at her!' "I... umm... I just... wanted to tell you that..." Her glossy, expecting, russet eyes made his throat go dry and his knees shake as she continued to stare at him while she laid on the sand next to him. "I..." 'Do I really love her? I know I don't deserve to...' "Mayumi..."

She knew what he was going to say, but he needed some help, as would she have. So she raised herself, letting the beach sand fall from her hair, and hugged him from behind, blushing brightly and kissing his cheek. It was her boldest move, she thought gleefully. "Tell me... you can tell me anything, remember that."

"I just... wanted to tell you..."

She hugged him tighter and let her head rest on his shoulders. "Tell me what?"

He took a deep breath, gathered his courage, and clenched his fist. "Mayumi...I don't just care about you, it's more than that. I..." He had hoped for his cell phone to go off, he hoped for an angel to attack, he even hoped that a wave would hit both of them so he would not have to deal with the pressure; but to no avail, there was no excuse not to tell her what he felt-- but he still could not say those three words that haunted him so. "I... You mean the world to me, Mayumi... " he whispered softly.

Her cheeks burned brightly at the gentle confession, the butterflies that fluttered in her stomach moved to her heart, and the air from her lungs had become chillingly cool. Though he had not found the courage to tell her that he loved her, she could not help but laugh as her tears fell onto the sand; an amalgam of disappointment and excitement. "You idiot... look, you made me cry..."

He turned around and looked at her tearful smile. "I'm sorry, I just..."

She threw herself and held him tightly, laughing and crying as she nuzzled her head onto his chest. 'He was so close... so close!' With her eyes watering, she looked deep into his navy blue irises, into his very soul, and asked, "Will you stay with me, forever...? Please...?"

Holding her tightly yet tenderly, he caressed her hair and back, and stared at the sun behind the clouds. "I don't know what I'd do without you," he whispered into the ether. There was not turning back for him, though. Soon, he would leave Tokyo-3 with Kaji in search of Aiko, but he could not say no to those desperate eyes of hers. "As long as I live, I'll do everything I can for you and Aiko... forever."

She buried her head in his chest and cried in joy and sorrow. Crying for her sister and crying for the boy whom she loved so deeply. "T-Thank you..."

Both laid in the mid-day sun and held one another after finally finding some peace in their lives, in each other's devotion; completely lost in their world, not noticing the unshaven agent in the far off distance, rubbing his chin with a frown on his face. 'This'll only make things harder to leave behind, Shinji...'

--

The days past quickly, his wounds healed with that too soon passage of time, and his fear of the future grew with every passing second, which picked up pace when he was near the sable-haired girl who casually taught him when he could not attend school. It seemed that after he had nearly told Mayumi he loved her, she had become a bit more cheerful, but she still had an aura of sadness surrounding her. That was why, in the dead of night, when Kaji called him to prepare himself, he only hesitated but for a second.

He clicked his cell phone cautiously and got off his futon. Rei was still sleeping, he thought sadly. He wanted nothing more in the world than to kiss her forehead and leave a note for her, but he didn't know if time permitted him such a thing. 'I should at least write a note telling her goodbye...'

Though Misato had wanted him to stay at home, as well as Asuka under the pretense of having a personal maid, he stayed with Rei for a very specific reason. No matter how cool and collected the girl was on the surfaces, he knew she was lonely. His father, even if he spent every second with her at NERV, would never be better company than a fleeting bystander. He was her only friend, he thought sadly, since Touji and Kensuke were only acquaintances, so it was his duty, and one he did willingly, to be there with her as long as possible. Mayumi knew she had his affection, even if he didn't, so there was no fear in him being companionable with the blue-haired girl.

But as soon as he put his hand on the doorknob, he dropped his duffel bag silently and looked forlornly behind him at the girl's figure as she breathed in out, gently bathed in the moon rays of the night. 'I can't just leave her all alone without saying goodbye...' Making up his mind, he wrote something down on a sheet of paper and put it underneath her dusty phone, letting one side hang out so it would be noticed. 'There...'

Shinji turned to her sleeping form and felt his heart ache. 'I'm sorry, Rei. If it's all possible, I'll come back, and then we can spend as much time together as you want.' "I promise." Carefully, he bent down and kissed her forehead lightly, then turned towards the door, only to have his wrist grabbed softly. 'I knew I shouldn't have...' "R-Rei?"

She rubbed her eyes with her free hand and focused her crimson gaze onto his nervous expression. "Where are you going so late?"

"I'm just... going out to..." he said nervously, "I can't sleep, so I'm going to go catch a movie... I won't be long, so don't worry, just go back to sleep." He faked a smile, but stopped when she continued to look at him with a hint of anger.

Her eyes turned to the duffel bag near the door. "You are lying. Where are you going?"

Was there anyway of getting out of this? He didn't know. With no other choice, he knelt down and lowered his head. "Rei... you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone where I'm going, okay? Especially my father. I'll tell you and only you."

Her eyes looked sternly at his own. "But he is the Commander... where would you be going that it must be kept secret?"

"Do you promise to keep this our secret?"

"But... he is--"

He grabbed her bed and dropped his head onto it softly. It was hard enough leaving her when she was awake, but to hear how desperately she needed someone besides the Commander, and in his mind anyone but him, made things all the more sorrowful. "Please, Rei... It's important that no one knows..."

Her expression soften at the tears that hid in his eyes. 'He is trying not to cry.' She lifted herself off the bed and sat down, letting her bare feet touch the cold tile, and stared down at her legs. Since Shinji had insisted, she had wore panties to bed and one of his shirts. It seemed, she thought, he was quite persuasive with her. "...if you truly do not want the Commander to know, then it would be best you didn't tell me..."

Despite her lissome figure covered in moonlight, despite her beauty and toplessness, he could only see her anxious expression. He wiped at his eyes and smiled at her. "Thank you, Rei..."

She looked at her pale legs sadly. "Are you leaving this instant?"

"No, I'm still waiting for a call... but I had planned to leave early so I didn't have to wake you up," he chuckled out, "not that it worked out well..."

"Shinji... this feeling..." she placed her hand on her bare chest and frowned, "what is it? It is very cold... like a sheet of ice has been placed over my heart; but, it's tingling, like it's melting."

He frowned and rubbed the back of his head. "I think your sad that I'm going to leave."

"Oh..." she looked at his hand and her own twitched, "... will you return soon?"

He bit his lip and sighed. "I don't think so."

"I see..." There was a deep silence followed by those few words; deep and foreboding. "May I... make you some tea before you leave? If you have the time, that is."

Grateful for the change in subject, he smiled sadly. "Sure, but I'll make it for you-- for keeping this secret between us."

She nodded and continued to sit calmly on her bed as the boy went into her kitchen and prepared her tea in the middle of the night. She looked at her pale legs once more and waited. Though her heart felt cold, it also fluttered with faint heat as she remembered waking to his lips on her forehead. The recent memory seemed bittersweet for some reason unbeknownst to her.

Some time later, he returned with two cups of Earl Grey. With a small smile, he handed her the cup. "Here. It's a little bitter..."

She took a sip of the liquid and looked at it when he sat down beside her, smiling as it warmed her body. "Yes... but it's warm." All too soon, once they had finished their tea and talked about nothing, his cell phone rang. "Is... is it time?"

"I think so..." he said as he picked up the phone, "is it time? Okay... where do you want me to meet you...? Okay. I'll leave right now and-- what? Out the balcony? But... okay, fine. I'll be there in fifteen minutes." He pressed the end call button and stared at the cell phone. "Get some sleep, Rei... I don't want you getting rings under your eyes," he said softly.

As he stood up and picked up his duffel bag from the front of the door, she could not help but clench her fist and bite her lip. Ignoring all the emotional training and suppression the Commander had made her go through, the years of drying tears and ignoring pain, she stood up quickly and hugged the young boy fiercely, resting her head on his shoulders and letting her first true tears fall onto them.

He was surprised by her outburst, a very unexpected catharsis, even more so by how she shivered onto him and how she tightened her hold when he did not return the embrace. She was crying for him, and he didn't like it. "Rei..."

She sniffled and shook her head. "Please do not leave me alone... I beg of you... I am all alone."

It was so hard. It was oh so hard to leave the blue-haired girl alone. Her fellow pilot, and, most importantly, her first friend was leaving her, and it scared her deeply. She had become accustomed to have him sleeping next to her on his futon. She had become accustomed to occasionally eating with him and conversing with him about anything that would keep them talking. And it was sad.

"Rei..." be returned her tight embrace and wrapped his arms around her shivering form, drawing her even closer and feeling her small bare breasts against his chest. He would have blushed, he would have been embarrassed; but he was too woeful to be either. "I'll come back for you, I promise I'll see you again. We have to beat the angels anyway, right?"

"I do not care about the angels! I want you to stay with me...!"

He let her cry as much as she needed to, promising to make up the time he needed to get to his rendezvous by running the distance, and held her tightly. Once she had calmed down, he looked at her red eyes and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I have to save Aiko, Rei... please understand that. If you were the one who was kidnapped, I would do the same for you."

She nodded and gulped the few salty tears left in her throat. "I am sorry... I don't know why I acted that way... hurry to where you have to go..."

He smiled tiredly at her tear stricken face and kissed her cheek. "In... in my room. There's a cello. I know that you play the violin, and I've heard it isn't a hard transition. It's yours."

She blushed at his kiss and looked down at her feet. "I do not wish to take what belongs to you."

"Well, it's not mine anymore." He hugged her affectionately one last time and picked up his duffel bag. "Do me a favor and tell Touji and Kensuke to keep their eyes on Mayumi. Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. And... become her friend, if you can."

She nodded and let go of his hand. "I will see you again. Promise me."

He chuckled. "It's a promise. Just make sure that you protect the city against the angels-- and stay alive."

Without turning back, he opened the curtains wide and moved the sliding door open, letting the moon in more and stepped onto the balcony. He looked to his left and right, finding the catwalk that crossed close enough to the empty highway behind Rei's apartment. Carefully, he stood on her balcony's railing and grabbed onto the metal catwalk, lifting himself up with a ladder's rung, and ran towards the highway.

Rei sat down on her bed and lowered her head, knowing that sleep would be a hard thing to obtain.

Kaji had told him to be wary of Section 2 agents, since even with the window he had given him there were still at least one or two around. Once he reached the highway, he crossed the catwalk and climbed down the ladder onto street level. From there, he looked behind her cracked building, staying low as possible, and checked for agents. He found none, and ran to the next building.

He felt like he was in some cheap spy thriller, but the rush of adrenaline and cool night air was all too real. Though there was no one to be seen, he could feel his heart thumping in fear of being caught.

Shinji looked at the highway and followed it until he arrived at the dusty roads that lead towards the town's outskirts. Making up for the time he spent comforting Rei, he ran through the trees and constantly kept an eye on the trail so as to avoid losing himself in the woods. Once he lost his breath, he leaned against a tree and looked at his cell phone's watch. "It's 2:07... I've only got about eight minutes left."

Peeling himself off the tree, he walked the rest of the way towards the cemetery. Through the leaf patterns of light that hit the brown and verdant Earth, he smelled the freshly dug dirt in the distance. With a last spurt of energy, he ran towards the cemetery, occasionally tripping over the thick roots of the trees.

The unshaven agent looked at the boy in the distance and flicked his cigarette to the ground, then stepped on it. "Looks like it's time for the get away." The man jumped into his sports car and opened the door for the pilot. "Get in! We don't have much time!"

Shinji stumbled as he neared him, but managed to get inside the car as soon as he began speeding off. With his burning lungs, he reclined in the seat and tossed his duffel bag in the back. He clutched his chest and started at the moon as the cold wind moved through his hair.

The unshaven man looked at the kid and grinned. "So you came after all."

"I... I couldn't pass up the chance to rescue Aiko..."

The man raised the roof of his convertible with the push of a button. "There, that's better... but I hope you know, saving Aiko will not be our only goal, Shinji. While I go around gathering information, you'll be busy training."

"T-Training? For what?"

"You'll be living outside of Tokyo-3 now. The world isn't as sheltered as it is in there. We're living in a post war time, you know-- and there were no victors in the war."

"The war...?"

"Yes, the Third World War; though the history books might not call it that."

Shinji looked strangely at the man as he handed him a gun. "W-What the...? What's this for?"

"Protection. Even though you can't reveal who you are outside of Tokyo-3, your still the Third Child, the pilot of Evangelion Unit-01; we can't have you dying now, can we? You'd have quite a few people crying if you did."

"B-But I can't kill a person! I mean, angels are one things, but..."

"If you were armed when that soldier had a knife to Mayumi's throat, would you have killed him, knowing that if you didn't she might have died?"

Shinji stayed silent and held the gun with both hands on his lap. "I... I suppose I would have in that situation..."

"Now, then. What your holding is a Beretta M1934-- commercial model with a silencer. Don't worry though, no one will track you down with this one. The bar code's gone and it's been checked for bugs. Speaking of which..." He stopped the car in the middle of the dirt road and looked at him sternly. "How serious are you about getting Aiko back?"

"I promised that I'd always protect Aiko... I don't plan on turning back now."

"Okay... then give me your hand-- your right one." Shinji complied, so the agent pulled out a small dagger. "Shinji... I'm going to have to take something out of your hand. It'll hurt, but we have to get rid of it in order to avoid being tracked."

"W-What? What's inside of me that'll make us get tracked!"

The older man sighed. "I'll explain everything to you once we arrive at my friend's house, but for now you'll just have to trust me."

The boy bit his lip then nodded. He grit his teeth in preparation and clutched the gun his hands, avoiding the trigger. "It's for Aiko..." He grit his teeth together and closed his eyes tightly as he felt the dagger tear into his hand's flesh. "Hmm! Hrrmm...!" Tears came out the corner of his eyes as he felt something leave his hand, as well as the dagger.

--

"This is me. Have the pilot candidate for Evangelion Unit-03 changed from Yamagishi, Mayumi to Suzuhara, Touji. That is all."

--

"Open your eyes, Shinji."

Cautiously, the young boy opened one eye to find a small chip between Kaji's fingers. "W-What is that?"

"It's a chip implanted into the human body to keep track of them. Many people have them and are unaware, since most times hospitals implant them when a child is born without the parent's knowledge. It's not uncommon, but since your the child of Gendo and Yui Ikari, it was safe to bet you had one too." He crushed the pin sized chip in-between his fingers and sighed. "The first aid is under your seat."

Shinji looked beneath the seat and bandaged his wound, still not believing that there was chip inside of his body informing his father of where he was at all times. "Ugh... This seems impossible..."

The car speed off once again, leaving a trail of dirt that would settle only seconds later. "Oh, it isn't a new thing. It's been going on since before Second Impact."

Shinji looked inside his duffel bag and withdrew the small picture frame that held a smiling Aiko inside it's golden edges. "Mr. Kaji... would you mind telling me about NERV and SEELE?"

The man smirked at the boy's curiosity. "It's a long story... but then again we have a long drive-- and a walk afterwards, too. So, I hope you have strong shoulders, because the truth is quite heavy."

--

To be continued.

--

Author's Notes: I know I said I'd introduce the world outside of Tokyo-3 in chapter 1, but I haven't even gotten to it in chapter 2... well, too bad. I will start in chapter 3, though. And, almost! Shinji almost got a spine (grew some balls, or however you want to say it) and almost told the bookworm that he loved her! Not the most melodramatic scene, but it was a bit more realistic that romantic, which is why I liked it. In any case, the next chapter will mostly deal with Shinji and Kaji. Everyone else's' part will just be their reaction to Shinji's departure and the like.

P.S. - Due to some unforseen events in my life, I'll be sending this chapter a little ahead of it's time, but I will be back to write chapter 3... before August... and also, DSL kicks major ass.

Peace to the gods of the Earth!

_ XxRagnarokxX88 _


	3. The New Ceiling

Disclaimer: I do not own the Neon Genesis Evangelion series or hold any rights over the character Mayumi Yamagishi, from the 2nd Impression game thingy. Don't sue, cause I'm already broke.

This is the third chapter of "Land of the Midnight Sun," the second book of "Catalyst," an NGE fan fiction. Enjoy.

**Land of the Midnight Sun**

**"A New Ceiling"**

To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.

**- Henri Bergson**

By: XxRagnarokxX88

An abyss of perpetual loneliness and infinite sorrow, a deep and suffocating sea of never-ending lonesomeness as deep and bottomless as the depths of the Antarctic; that was what drowned her life in pitiable sadness. Commiserations did little to lift her from the cold depths of that ocean of heartache and woe. Even her friends who visited frequently to comfort the bedridden girl could not help keep the tears back for long, since they would come back once aloneness set once again; but she was not ill nor physically weak. She was bedridden for several days, sporadically appearing at school but rarely speaking, since she lacked the will to lift herself from beneath the warm bed sheets.

The day after Shinji had come so close to whispering what she wanted so desperately to hear, he was kidnapped, or so she thought at first, in the dead of night. Gone. Stolen away from her. Everything was taken from her. Her beloved sister was stolen by an army, and her dearly loved boyfriend was abducted, presumably by the members of the same army. It torn her heart asunder.

She would release her tears in her shower and at night so that she would not cry in the day, to avoid making a scene and attracting more attention towards herself when she did find the resolve to go to school. She had already become the talk of the school; the pilot's girlfriend in mourning. Such gossip and false well wishing was fruitless and pointless. Who could give rise to her fallen spirit? No one besides those she had lost.

Even her own mother was powerless against the sadness that permeated the air, unable to penetrate that thick fog that enveloped the sterile house. Still, there was something that gave the young girl hope. A letter, left behind by the young pilot that informed them of what had happened. He had left at Rei's apartment and wrote it down when she was fast asleep, or so she was informed.

'Don't worry about me, I'll bring back Aiko.'

That was all that was written on the small piece of paper. Not an 'I love you, Mayumi'. Not a 'I'll return soon'. Not even a goodbye. Even with that thoughtlessness, even after the pangs of resentment stung at her heart towards the missing pilot, it was a light that shone through the fog.

The investigation went on for weeks, but nothing came up. Misato herself lead a search for him along with a few of the new Section-2 rookies-- but still nothing. There was no sign of the pilot. Stranger still, there was no sign of the agent of NERV Ryoji Kaji. She hated him, she thought bitterly. With both of them missing, it was obvious who had done this, who had done this to her.

So, as she counted the days like leaves in autumn, how long had it been since she stood waiting for him? Days which felt like an eternity, weeks which felt like lifetimes, and months that left her impatient. How long could she wait for them before she would give up hope, think them dead, and move on? Such pessimistic thoughts were hurtful, she would even scold herself for such malevolent thoughts, but unavoidable.

Tears dried and the heart cooled, but memories were fresh, even inside the cold steel of the entry plug.

"How does it feel to be inside of Unit-01, Mayumi?"

She sighed in the LCL and watched the bubbles move to the top of the chamber. "It feels like the last time I was inside." She frowned at the memories of Shinji's hands over hers'.

"That's good..." The fake blonde scribbled into her notepad and moved towards the frowning tactician to her side. "Something wrong?"

"Why does she have to be inside of Unit-01? You know that it can't be good for her to be inside of Shinji's Eva," she stated with a dagger's edge, "and to have the test right after her mother signed the papers to let her pilot the Eva, too! What nerve."

The scientist looked over Maya's shoulder and scribbled into her notepad once again, charting the girl's relatively moderate synchronization rate. "It's not like we needed Taini's signature. When it comes to defeating the angels, we'll put whoever can pilot them on the thrones."

"So, it's as simple as that? Even if her mother refused to let her pilot, she would have been forced to! What kind of free will is that?"

Ritsuko looked at the young girl inside the entry plug and then towards her long-time friend. "Look, we don't have a choice, alright? Unit-03's specifications aren't suited for her, and we don't have a pilot for Unit-01!-- What? Do you think I want her to pilot Shinji's Eva? I don't. But when it comes to defeating the angels, we have no choice."

Misato huffed and looked at Mayumi's twitching lips. She frowned. 'It's still painful for her... damn it, Shinji! Your a complete idiot for getting yourself kidnapped...'

Ritsuko stared at the synchronization rate graphs. "Mayumi, try to concentrate. Your synch rate is dropping."

"O-Okay..." She bit her lip and tried to push the memories into the back of her mind. 'Concentrate... concentrate... concentrate...'

Minutes went by, but time seemed to be slowing down for the sable-haired pilot.

"... These are acceptable. We haven't configured Unit-01's personality compatibility to fit Mayumi, but she's synching pretty well with Shinji's old personal data... she'll do just fine."

Maya turned around in her chair, closed communications, and addressed her superior. "Ma'am, but do you really think that's the case? We've killed the angels so far with two experienced pilots with years of training and Shinji-- and he only survived his first fight because Unit-01 went berserk! How can she possibly take Shinji's place?"

"We'll have to train her to the limit. Strategies, escape routes, armory buildings, and simulations-- we'll have to rush with her training." She reached into her lab coat pocket and retrieved a thin disk. "Using the angel fights we've had before as a basis for the simulation trails, she can at least feel how it's like to be in the thick of it."

The young woman looked at the disk and then back at Mayumi's closed eyes. "I feel... sorry for her."

Smoothly and cool, she said, "It's okay to feel sorry for her-- just remember that without these children we're as good as dead."

--

"Eh? Hmm..." He shook his head against his thin pillow, feeling the old floorboards beneath it, and looked at the growing sun through the broken windows, the silhouette of the bars hitting his face and shadowing him in stripes. 'Another day... and still no word from Kaji...'

It had been months since he had left the city of angels and biomachines, and still there was no word from Kaji on the whereabouts of his dear Aiko. Frustration had set in, but he still waited in that old building. The city was crowded and the people were foreign to him. Though, for the most part, they spoke Japanese, communication was never Shinji's forte.

Aside from being in a strange place, he knew no one besides the person who trained him in the use of firearms and the man's maid. The maid was a young woman in her early twenties, bronzed skin with short, dark umber hair, with a cheerful and jaunty personality, though she was harsh when the time called for it, as Shinji's experience with had uncovered.

She was usually with Wayra, a strict yet indirectly compassionate man of around 35 with brownish skin and dark hair. His Spartan-like character was suited for the past, where one could swing a sword and live with his brawn and speed alone, but, in this day and age, he managed to scrap a living by selling firearms and having his maid run a shop in his building, cutting hair and selling flowers.

All day he lived with the pair, waiting and waiting to hear from the man who left him there. It was not as if he disliked the two, he simply had more important things to do; not that he could do much of those things without Kaji.

Lazily, he lifted himself from the futon and went through his daily routine. He stepped out the shower fully dressed and ready to go through the same practice he went through for months. Shinji walked into the kitchen and was surprised to not find the short-haired maid making breakfast. Normally, he would wake up and help her, but it seemed as if she had other business to attend to.

As soon as he began searching for pots and pans, he felt someone poke his sides from behind, catching him by surprise. He hit his head on the bottom of the drawer and rubbed his head with a slight frown, knowing exactly who it was that caused him an early headache. "Ehh... how many times are you going to do that?"

She smiled at the boy and patted his head before preparing breakfast. "As many times as it takes to get you to stop falling for it, my dear Shinji."

The boy smirked at her energetic personality and helped with breakfast, setting aside the twitch of pain in his head and ignoring the memories of his recent past for a few moments in her uplifting presence. "Say, Maiara... where's Wayra?"

She cut the sweet yam into thin slices and looked back at the boy with a wide smile. "He's out doing some errands. He won't be back until tomorrow-- so it's just you and me..." she picked up the knife and waved it at him teasingly, "... so that means that I'm in charge of you, Mr. Big-Important-Pilot."

Shinji took out the quinces from the boiling water and sighed. "Oh-- what a relief."

"What's with the sarcasm? You know I'm not that ditsy... Oh! But just because he's not here, that doesn't mean you can miss training. So after you've eaten and helped me with the dishes, wash up and arm up."

"Yes, ma'am..." He sighed and set-up the table for both of them.

She frowned at the boy's lack of enthusiasm. "Now, now, Shinji, I'm sure Kaji's on his way. Cheer up. Don't make me hit you with the frying pan," she added cheerfully.

His lip twitched into a small smile, knowing the threat was not an idle one. "Okay, okay..."

They ate their breakfast peacefully and slowly, occasionally speaking of things that would need to be done by week's end and how the shop was doing. They cleaned the dishes, fighting with the soap bubbles and throwing the suds at each other when Maiara thought it humorous.

Together they cleaned the small home and went about their business. Maiara walked down the stairs with a skip and flipped the sign over to show 'Closed' to her and 'Open' outside with a touch of pride in her smile. Shinji climbed to the rooftop and walked over the makeshift bridges over the buildings made of sturdy wood. He looked down from the rooftops to see children playing across the somewhat cracked streets, laughing and enjoying their youth, and frowned at the stinging memories. 'Never really had friends at that age...'

With the sun at full bloom he reached the top of a small abandoned factory near and beneath part of a highway. The noise of the dozens of cars was perfect for what he had to do. Looking around the rooftop, he found the stairwell. He opened the lock over the latch with a key he kept in a small pocket inside his belt and climbed down the stairs.

He landed on the cleans floors and sighed. Inside he found several old machines pushed against the walls of the building, useless yet not broken. In the middle of the large factory he found brick walls riddled with bullet holes. He walked towards the walls and felt the gritty and rough texture. The walls, which ranged from large walls and small blocks, were for target practice.

With no enthusiasm, he turned from the wall and walked through an office door and searched through the smaller of the four cabinets. He pulled out the Beretta M1934 that Kaji had given him and stared at the steel weapon. As he took out the magazine and searched the cabinet for a specially made plastic bullet magazine, hoping he never had to use the weapon against a person.

Even still, the question Kaji had posed to him did make him think. Shoving the magazine inside the gun, he thought it over. 'If I had to choose between killing someone and saving Mayumi... I guess the answer is obvious, and I wouldn't regret saving her, but I would have that on my conscious...'

No matter how many times he held the iron in his hand, he never felt right with it. Such a dangerous thing, such a mindless thing. It was him that pulled the trigger, he thought solemnly as he stood several meters away from a large brick wall.

The boy fired one round and saw the wall chip, not forming a hole but denting the red block. 'These... I should save these. So I won't have to kill anyone... just slow them down.' He pulled out the magazine and returned it to the cabinet. 'I don't really feel like practicing... I'll spend fifteen more minutes then I'll go out and look around the city for something to do until I have to see Maiara again.'

Placing another magazine into the Beretta, he tried to perfect his aim; imagining a circle on the brick, centering, and pulling the trigger, for fifteen minutes. Keeping true to his thoughts, he returned the gun to the small cache of arms in the cabinet and climbed the ladder onto the rooftop.

Shinji felt the wind in his hair once again. Something felt wrong, ominous and foreign, shaking his spine and tensing his shoulders. "What the..." His paranoia got the better of him once again. "Mayumi..."

--

Empty and infinite. Everything around her stretched to the great infinity of nothing and everything. Clear, and empty-- and it scared her. She could feel weight when she moved, but she floated without fear of gravity, but that bothered her. For who feared gravity with nothing below them?

"Where am I?" she asked to the infinite, but received no response. Losing her patience with the perpetual silence, she asked once again, "Where am I!"

All around her, corners from the nonexistence formed through a bright green light. She turned and looked all around her as the green light swallowed the blank with an ethereal glow. "Wh-What's going on!"

The green light surrounded her, dimmed and faded as she began to panic at the dreamlike world. "G-G--Get away! Stay away from me!"

The light faded and receded into the infinite.

--

With his hands deep in his pockets, he walked down the sidewalks of the building crowded city. He tried to get use to the noisy cars in the streets, but he was too unfamiliar with the passing wind, which occasionally shook the smaller cars parked near him, to ignore them. Letting his growing bangs cover his eyes, he continued to wander solemnly through the concrete jungle of the like high rise apartments and businesses, and other similarly grey and dull structures.

Something caught his eye, a slanted alleyway leading downward into a dark alcove. Though the alley lacked a dumpster, the scene was all too similar to the alley he had nearly lost his and the lives of two important girls in his life. With a shudder, he began walking away from the alley, only to have his shoulder grabbed roughly, then tossed to the alley's floor.

Shinji hit the pavement, falling onto and scrapping his elbows. "Uhh...!" He tried to get up, but was shoved back downward. "What the hell are you doing!"

He looked up and froze as he faced the iron in front of his nose. Gulping, he stayed on the floor and did not look up at the assailant, fearing that the steady hand on the gun would squeeze the trigger and end his life. "W-W-What... Wh-What do you want...?"

The man lifted the boy's chin with the pistol and looked at him. Shinji looked back fearfully at the man. He was much taller than him, wearing oversized jeans and a muscle shirt. Strong and intimidating with a shaved head, and heavily tattooed around his arms and chest; Shinji wondered if it would do him any good to remember his face. "Your wallet, kid! Now!"

Shinji searched in his pocket shakily, never taking his wavering eyes off the gun in front of him. He tried to hand him the wallet, but dropped it with his trembling fingers. He closed his eyes as the gun pressed against his skull.

The man picked up the wallet but stopped when he saw the pictures that fell out of it. "What the... you know Mai?"

Shinji opened his eyes, controlled his breathing and looked up at the man as his expression grew less and less harsh. "Maiara... yeah..."

"Oh, damn! My bad-- you must be Shinji!" He placed the gun between his belt and jeans, and extended his arm. The boy took his hand cautiously and stood up. "If I had known that you were the kid living with Mai, I wouldn't have tried to mug you."

The complete change in attitude was shocking to him to say the least, but he found it strangely nostalgic for some unbeknownst reason. Shinji, still cautious, dusted himself off and sighed at the moment in his life. "Why does it matter than I'm living with Maiara, anyway?"

The man handed him his wallet, which Shinji prompted placed in his pocket, and grinned at the boy. "Mai does my little girl's hair! And she's friends with my moms, too. She's like family, eh."

Shinji looked at the men in similar dress behind the attacker and frowned. "Ah... umm..."

The man looked behind him and waved them off. "Nah, it's alright! He's with Mai!" The group behind him left the alley entrance and went about their business. He turned around and saw Shinji's worried expression. "Don't worry, man. We ain't gonna hurt you." He tapped the boy's shoulder, and said, "Let's go. You shouldn't be around in this area alone, some asshole might try and mug you. C'mon, I'll take you back to Mai's place."

Shinji nodded his head, seeing it best not to disobey the armed man.

--

Shinji walked through the door with the clang of the bed and followed the gangster in front of him as he strolled over to the woman flipping through her magazine listlessly. The way he saw Maiara look up from her magazine and the gangster, then to him, made him feel like he had done something wrong. She looked at him sternly then threw the magazine on the stack of other periodicals. Marching over to him, she slapped him upside his head.

He rubbed the back of his head, frowning at the sting. "Ow! What was that for!"

She slapped him again and pulled his ear. "That was for skipping training and going off on your own! And this," she slapped him again, "is for getting involved with this good-for-nothing!" She pointed towards the man who had brought him there.

"Hey, I was just trying to get some pocket money out of him, I wasn't going to hurt the kid. I let him go and brought him over here when I figured out he was with you, Mai."

"I'm not even going to started on you!-- And look!" She grabbed Shinji's elbow and raised it until he stumbled, "Just look at him! My poor Shinji's bleeding! Idiot! If you hurt him again, I'm going to have to have a talk with your mom!"

He raised his arms and started walking away. "That's no way to talk to a paying customer!-- and I better get a discount."

"You shave your head, stupid!"

"Yeah, well..."

'Some family...' While Shinji didn't think it wise to get on the nerves of the armed gangster, it seemed like the angry maid was the more dangerous one. She had changed from anger towards him, to concern over his wounds, to annoyance over the gangster's involvement in his life. She was quick to change her disposition, just like Asuka, he thought happily.

"... My little girl better a discount!"

Maiara turned on her heels and walked Shinji towards the small staircase leading to their home. "Yeah, yeah. I can't penalize her for her father's stupidity. Make sure to not scare away the customers; tell 'em I'll be back in a few minutes."

He sat down on one of the three barber's chairs and looked at his head in the large mirror. "Yeah, whatever... I should be getting paid for this..."

After climbing the creaky stairs, Maiara sat Shinji down on the only chair in the cramp room and turned to the other door. Shinji looked around the room and sighed. That was his life now. Within that small two floor building he resided with two other people he barely knew; not that he minded the two, since they were nice enough to take him in, a complete stranger, in a house that had just enough room for two. The room he sat in now was Maiara's bedroom; smaller than his room in Misato's apartment and no where near as nice, which was now his also.

If he were not bothering Misato enough, he thought sadly, now he was a burden to a completely different person. "It's the same thing all over again... just in a smaller package..."

The short-haired woman came back from the other room and set down a hefty first-aid box. Shinji looked at it in disbelief. "Wow... I-isn't that a little much? I-It's only a scratch..."

She opened the latch to the rusted metal box and flipped the lid over, exposing new and freshly bought medical supplies. "Yeah, I know it's a lot... but Wayra gets injured a lot. And that Kaji... ugh... he's hardly ever hurt, but when he is," she took out two large bandages and wrapped them around both of Shinji's elbows, "it's usually more than just a scratch." He tried to move his elbow but was slapped lightly against his chin. "Don't move it around so much. I don't want you getting a scar."

He looked down at his shoes with regret as she stood up and kissed his forehead. "I-I'm sorry, Maiara... it's just... all I do is practice with those guns. I know Mr. Kaji said it was for protection, but... from what?"

"Well, from people like that idiot downstairs."

From the first floor, he yelled, "Hey! I can hear you, man!"

She ignored the voice and ruffled the boy's growing hair. Seeing that all he did was stare down at the creaky floor, she smiled and knelt down in front of him. He looked strangely at her and stared back into her deep, dark, yet exuberate brown eyes. "Maiara...?"

"Since Wayra's out for a while and business seems to be slow today, how about you and me go see a movie? It's been a while since I've had some time to out, what with all the money troubles."

"I-I don't want to make you waste your money."

"No, no! I set aside some so I could go have some free time-- but it'd be funnier to go out with someone else, right?"

He thought it over and nodded his head. It was not as if he had anything better to do, he thought. "Sure... when are we leaving?"

She smiled and hugged the boy before flicking his forehead and lugging the heavy rusted box into Wayra's room. Shinji blushed and frowned at the hug and flick. "We'll leave as soon as it's time to close shop. So around eight P.M., okay?"

"S-Sure... I'd love to."

--

Death was so different in real life. Unless you have seen a bullet go through a person's body; unless you have seen shrapnel tear the flesh off a person's bones you have no right to claim "that's just how life goes", and "war is just war". Only those who have seen the scenes of sudden death can truly explain just how sickening the sound of cracked bone and ripped flesh can freeze your veins and make your heart leapt out of your throat.

Even still, there are those who can shut themselves off from the guilt of stealing life. He believed wars could be righteous, but that was hardly the case. And even if the cause is just, death simply begets death. Innocence is lost. The ones you love can die, even if they had nothing to do with whatever caused such horrors. Once you have lost the ones you love, there is nothing but vengeance in heart.

At least, he thought as much. He liked to believe he could pull the trigger on someone who deserved death, that he could fight with his comrades for the sake of liberation, but what he had witnessed made him question everything.

What was a gun? A tool of detriment and a tool of protection. What was a tank? Mobile destruction. What was a bomb? What were cannons? What were guillotines and axes? What were swords and what were N2 mines? All beget death, just and unfair.

Kensuke leaned on his desk and looked at the camcorder in front of him. It hadn't been on for sometime. He didn't want to see what was inside of it, not after he recorded it. The screams and splatters were too much, even at such a far distance. 'What have I been trying to do with all these fake guns... this is so unfair...'

All around the classroom he could see empty seats. The children who left had either lost parents or had parents that feared losing them; so they all left. Only half the school remained, but that particular room was emptier than the rest. Through his lenses he could see Ayanami, Touji, Hikari, Asuka, Mayumi and a few other students that he never spoke to.

It had been months, but no one had returned to normal. Even the daily arguments between Touji and Hikari ceased to excite the classroom. Asuka was always mad, which normally would not be troubling if she did not grow suddenly gloomy after yelling at someone, and shut herself off from everyone but Hikari and two other girls.

Kensuke looked behind him and saw Mayumi with her head down on her desk. He frowned. 'Even if we all got it bad, Yamagishi really did get the worst. Her sister has been kidnapped, Shinji too... they could be...' He shook his head and dropped the thought. 'I shouldn't be so pessimistic about it. I'm sure he's fine.'

Hikari walked over to Touji and led him out of the room, a sad look on both of their faces. 'Hmm... Touji's been leaving a lot recently...'

"Aida."

Kensuke raised his head and looked at the red-eyed pilot. "Oh, hey Ayanami. What's on your mind?"

"I would like to speak with you."

"Sure... rooftop, right?"

She nodded her head and returned to her desk as if she had never left it's confines. Kensuke lowered his head. Talking with Ayanami was not uncommon since Shinji left, but it was still awkward. The only reason he really started talking to her was a sense of duty. It seemed that Shinji was the only person that talked to the blue-haired enigma, and it was sad that Ayanami had to see her only friend leave.

What stuck in his mind the most was Shinji's reason for leaving. After a few weeks of everyone believing Shinji was kidnapped, Ayanami had told him and Touji that Shinji had left with Mr. Kaji to find Aiko. Though they both though Shinji incredibly stupid, Kensuke could only smile a few days after hearing the true reason for his departure. 'Yeah, it sounds like something he would do.'

With a heavy sigh, the bespectacled teen lifted himself from his seat and walked towards the rooftop. Walking the steps and closing the door behind him, he saw Ayanami staring at the hill that Shinji would often lay on. It was such a sad sight.

"Umm... you wanted to talk to me, Ayanami?"

She turned around and looked at his gleaming lenses. "Yes. I wanted to discuss with you Mayumi."

He pushed his glasses forward and nodded. The subject, or rather the person, was a touchy subject. Aside from Hikari, Mayumi rarely spoke to anyone. "Sure, I guess. What's up?"

"I'm sure you've realized by now that she is an Evangelion pilot."

He nodded his head. Though he had no proof, the tired look on Mayumi's face and how she, Asuka, and Rei were absent at the same time was hint enough. "I though so."

"I fear the fatigue from excessive training is starting to strain her. Physically and mentally. I cannot speak with Dr. Akagi about this, she would only say it is necessary."

"Yeah, it definitely looks like it... but what can we do about it? I mean, she's totally depressed about Shinji and her sister. We've tried to talk to her, even Asuka tried, but nothing's changed."

She lowered her head and thought it over. "I am aware that there is nothing much we can do-- she does need to be prepared for an Angel attack --but, Shinji told me to become her friend, if I could. Is it not a friends duty to comfort?"

"Well, yeah, it's just... this is something that she has to get through. And unless Shinji brings Aiko back, it's going to be awhile before she even begins acting normally-- not that we can really blame her."

"I suppose you're correct. But... Shinji told me to become friends with her, if at all possible, " she lowered her eyes and though back on the memory, "I do not wish to fail him."

Kensuke looked at the blue-haired girl curiously. 'Does Ayanami... no. That's impossible.' "Well... I really don't know what to do. Touji has been acting weird recently; Hikari too. Asuka... well, she's Asuka." Kensuke though about the cool camcorder in his desk and sighed. "Even I'm not exactly the same. The best thing right now, I think, is to leave everyone alone."

"To let matters resolve themselves?"

"I guess so..."

The wind blew harder and both turned towards the gust, for some strange reason bringing back Ayanami's words to Kensuke's mind. _"Shinji told me... that you and Suzuhara should keep your eyes on Mayumi, make sure she doesn't do anything stupid... and don't tell anyone about what I've just told you. Shinji has entrusted me and you two with all this."_

--

The night had past as quickly as the cars that sped by the strange and still foreign building. As different as the setting was from Tokyo-3, Shinji couldn't say he hadn't seen such a place before. The similar buildings nearby reminded him of the apartment building that Rei lived in. He sighed; the thought was unwelcome.

'Rei... I wonder how she's doing...? I hope dad isn't making her do all night tests again. I've seen her when she hardly sleeps; it's not a good thing.'

He tossed on the creaky floor and started at the lazily spinning ceiling fan above him. He twitched at the sudden noise and looked at the bed next to him, seeing Maiara's leg dangle off of her bed while she snored peacefully.

The night had gone by fast. They went to the movies after Maiara had finished doing business, selling flowers and cutting hair of whomever had the cash, dressed casually, yet well enough to blend in with the crowd. To whomever paid attention to the pair, they would have seemed an odd match. The young maid was attractive by no comparison, yet she did not attract attention, silently she had walked with Shinji next to her, never drawing more than an idle glance from strangers.

It seemed strange to Shinji. If it were not for Mayumi, he may have blushed just walking next to such a lightly bronzed woman. What caught his attention the most was not the dark silk of her hair, nor the deep brown of her jovial eyes, it was the necklace she wore. Bright and inexpensive, it was subtle, small, and yet seemed to hold some incredible value to her, since it was the first time he had ever seen her wear it.

'I wonder... maybe it's something her parents gave her? I'm curious, but... should I even ask?'

The soft snores made him smirk in the dark.

When he awoke from his slumber, as usual, Maiara was already out of bed, working away on breakfast. It was a pleasant change from him making food for several people everyday, though he admitted to himself that it was something he might have enjoyed, but he still felt it was something he should be doing for both her and Wayra. It was all he was good for, he though sadly.

He lifted himself off the floor, did his usual routine of showering, dressing, and brushing, and left the small room down towards the kitchen. The sun was still rising, and the dusk had yet to leave, he noticed.

There was no way in hell he could have been more shocked at the sight. Before he touched the door to the kitchen, he heard the clatter of pots and knives on cracked tile. The navy blue eyes went wide. He rushed into the room to find Kaji slumped over Wayra's shoulder. Shinji would have though him dead, had he not lifted his head from his chest, a trail of blood leaking from the side of his mouth, smiling at the young boy.

Speechless, Maiara pushed Shinji aside and ran up the stairs towards her room.

"M-Mr. Kaji!" he said frantically, "What's wrong! Why are you--"

Kaji looked at the frowning face of the man carrying him and sighed. Struggling with his voice, he said with smooth pain, "N-Nothing really, just got in trouble for snooping around the right places!"

"Kaji... shut-up." The man let go of the man and leaned him against the walls. "Your always like this when you get hurt. It's obnoxious."

Kaji looked at the hole inside of his shoulder and flinched. Before he would even wince again, he looked at Shinji's terrified expression and grinned. "What are you looking at, Shinji? It's nothing serious, I just need to clean the stain and get Maiara to patch up the hole, and this shirt is as good as new."

Before Shinji could call him an idiot, he received a stern look from Wayra. "Shinji. Help Mai bring down the equipment."

Stumbling, he reached the door and ran up the stairs.

Wayra sighed and looked at Kaji with disappointment. "Didn't I tell you not to be so reckless?"

"Yeah, you did... but you can't say you would have done better than me."

"Which is why I don't." Kaji reached into his pocket and took out a cigarette. He put it to his lips, but the stalwart man next to him took the tobacco away. "Maiara doesn't like the smell of it. And she's the one that will treat your wound. Respect at least that much."

Kaji smirked. "Your right. My mistake."

The door to the kitchen swung open as Shinji dragged the rusted box across the floor. With a huff, he attempted to lift it onto the kitchen table, but Maiara touched his shoulder. "It's too heavy-- besides, I'm going to need to use the kitchen table," she looked at the agent and frowned, "get on."

Kaji peeled himself off the wall and, with the assistance of the maid, laid down on the table. "I'm sorry about the trouble, Mai," he said with a smile.

She tied her hair back and opened the rusted box. "Don't worry about it, after all, I don't have anesthesia right now." She smirked at Kaji's frown. "Well, that's what you get for being stupid."

She retrieved her gloves and put them on with a snap. "I think you should get out now, Shinji. Just put flip the sign over to closed for me before you go upstairs."

The sight of blood was something he hated, so he didn't argue, but he was stopped abruptly by rough fingers on his shoulder. "Huh...?"

"Stay."

"Wh-what?"

Kaji looked at the Spartan. "Wayra! Don't you think that's a bit much? I mean, he's barely..."

"I don't want your opinion."

Maiara placed all the necessary surgical instruments onto a tray and put on her mask. "Wayra... this is a bit much, even for you!"

His resolve wavered by her soft voice, but the man stayed firm. "He needs to get use to such a sight. It's for his own good."

"Wayra..."

His own weakness laid bare, he sighed and folded his arms. "I leave the decision to him," he looked at Shinji's wide eyes, "just remember that this a sight you'll have to get use to, if you indeed plan to get that little girl back."

All three adults stayed quite as Shinji looked at the floor. With the silence thick in the air, he raised his head and nodded. 'Aiko. It's for Aiko.' "I-I'll stay."

Wayra's placid expression twitched.

--

The noise of the streets below was high, but subdued compared to the midday traffic. Dusk was setting and the scent of meat and the sound of music floated in the air. It was a familiar experience by now. For Shinji, while the scent was unwelcomed, the music was nostalgic. The fast paced rhythm of those who danced for entertainment, the drums, cymbals, trumpets, and trombones, he could identify them clearly.

While he didn't like such noise when he tried to sleep, he was accustomed to it now. The activity after the day, the enjoyment of those that struggled to survive during the day can celebrate under the moon's glow and different colored, bright lights; it was captivating.

The young boy concentrated on the sound and even the smell, since he did not want to look at the man who sat beside him against the rooftop's extra room.

Though he leaned against the concrete room with a smile to the fading sun, his bandaged shoulder made Shinji nervous. It had only been a few months ago that he received damage severe enough to require such heavy bandaging, so the sight of the red-stained white cloth gave him a sense of deja vu.

Shinji propped his knees up and rested his arms on them. "Mr. Kaji..."

Faking his broken concentration, he faced the child slowly and ruffled his hair. "Don't worry about it. It was sudden, but Wayra was right in making you watch. Things like this happen everyday," his smile faded, "... it may even happen to you one day."

Shinji shivered at the thought. 'I... I could really die before I even get Aiko back... huh?'

Though his thoughts were strong, his will was shaken by the sight of Kaji cringing face when Maiara had taken the bullet out of his shoulder, and there was little that could restore it. "Mr. Kaji... where is Aiko...?"

"Well... the good news is I have some information, but I'm not one-hundred percent sure that it's Aiko's location. It's an old military complex. To the public, it's nothing more than abandoned scrap yard in the middle of the desert left behind during the Second Impact, though."

"In the middle of the desert...?"

"The reason why it isn't abandoned... well, even I don't know about that yet. It's currently situated near the ruins of the old City of Angels."

"The old City of Angels? You mean... Tokyo-1?"

"No... angels did not invade Tokyo-1. I mean, in the American Empire, Los Angeles."

"Los Angeles...? But, isn't that--"

"Yeah, it's mostly underwater now."

"But why would Aiko be there?" His voice was shaky as the weight of Kaji's words set it.

"After the Second Impact, Los Angeles, and much of California's coastline was taken by the Pacific. After the flooding, many of the cities that weren't caught by the ocean fell under martial law. The cities burned, people were slaughtered, and civil war spread."

Shinji bowed his head as the sun sank further behind the city horizon.

"People were eventually put into camps and held 'for their safety'." He raised his head to the orange, black skies and sighed. "Many were killed, but the worse was what was done afterwards... led by SEELE, there were human experiments done on children from around the world born during and after Second Impact. Any idea why?"

He didn't have to think too hard. "To look for Evangelion pilots?"

"Right... and this was before the Evangelions were built... though it would be more proper to say created. Anyway, these camps later found many potential pilots. It later expanded into a large military research complex in the desert. From what I gather, SEELE abandoned the sight, and the then U.S. military took over. It seems that they plan to rival NERV in the fight against the angels."

"But why would the military want to fight the angels! Who would want--"

"Political leverage. The American Empire still kept it's label as a world super power, but only because other countries got it worse. China and Germany rose in power while countries in southern South America and south Africa were nearly wiped out, but the country that truly prospered after Second Impact was Japan. It was labeled the second world power, since it was SEELE that fueled it. They had the Evangelions, they had the power to fight the unknown monsters."

"... So whomever controls the power to kill angels controls the world...?"

"It's sad, I know, but that seems to be the case. If my information is correct, Aiko could be inside the military complex for research purposes."

"But why would they want Aiko?"

"Pilots fall into 3 classes. Class-3, Class-2, and Class-1. You, Asuka, and Rei are the only class one pilots that have been found. My guess is that they found another one."

"Aiko...? An Eva pilot...?"

"I'm guessing that's why... there's no way to make sure unless we go ourselves and check it out." The unshaven man stood up with a wince and looked on as the stars finally made their appearance. "But... considering that people want to monopolize on the angel-killing business, just like the Jet-Alone project, I wouldn't be surprised if SEELE has lost Aiko to some other military group on their attempt at taking Mayumi."

--

"What? If she wasn't the original target, then just who was it, Commander?"

"That is none of your concern, Major."

The hairs on the back of her neck straighten at the small and subtle scolding tone in her superior's voice. "Commander Ikari! If this city's defenses were breached by a small army for the sole purpose of capturing a specific person--"

"There will be no need for further discussion."

"B-But, Sir--"

"You are dismissed," he said sternly, "Major Katsuragi."

Catching the breath that caught in her throat, Misato turned her heels, fists balled, and walked towards the large steel double doors of her commander's office. She bit her lip and rushed past the doors as a new wave of worry crept into her mind. 'What the hell could the commander possibly get from withholding information like that?'

The question still stumbling in her mind, she reached her car after a long day's work and leaned her head on the dashboard. She bumped her head on the hard plastic and leaned back in the worn leather of her seat.

"Damnit! Why is that I'm kept in the dark about something like this! If Aiko wasn't the original target... then... Mayumi? It's possible... maybe to get their hands on an Eva pilot for bargaining reasons? To get Shinji? But, how could they have known she was qualified? Marduk keeps the list of potential candidates under tight wraps... a leak in information? But even if that were the case... they've already taken..."

Misato closed her eyes and sighed deeply. 'Shinji... they've taken my Shinji...'

How long had it been since she let herself think of the Third Child? Months had passed, but still no word on his whereabouts. According to Section-2, there was some sort of border breach near the run down sections of Tokyo-3, which, if Section-2 was slow to the punch, could have been Shinji's kidnappers. 'If it was an enemy of NERV... they probably still wouldn't have killed him. He's a pilot, so they might... experiment.' The thought sent an icy shill down her spine.

Even still, if that were the case, what troubled her more now was how Commander Ikari told her to give up on her pursuit of Shinji and Aiko. His indifference towards the little girl was not surprising, since apathy came naturally to the man, but his cancel on the search for Shinji caught her by surprise. To give up on his son? To give up on the arguably best Evangelion pilot they had? Something was definitely awry.

"Just what in the hell is going on? Where the hell is that idiot? Kaji's usually good at knowing those hidden little facts... if only the Commander hadn't sent him to snoop around SEELE..."

--

"Mayumi...? Why would they--"

Kaji placed his hand on the boy's shoulder and gripped him tightly. He was well aware of the extent of Shinji's affection for Mayumi, and to worry him with all the details of Mayumi's condition would only shatter what little resolve he had after leaving Tokyo-3.

"Shinji... don't preoccupy yourself with it. Just know that Mayumi is safe, and that we'll find Aiko."

"But, why were they after Mayumi!"

"Shinji... there are some things that your just not ready to know... just leave it at that for now."

"But, Mr. Kaji, if it's about Mayumi..."

He raised his voice, "Shinji!" The young boy lowered his head at the scolding and hugged his knees. Seeing this, the older man sighed. "... I'll tell you about it once we've got Aiko back. Since this is something that both of you need to know."

Shinji let the wind past his growing hair and stared at the dirty rooftop with little interest, wishing nothing more than to be by Mayumi and Aiko's side at the moment. "Okay..."

The cold winds swept between the dark and narrow streets and buildings and howled silently against the deafening music and sounds of the city. And as the moon glowed ever brighter, Shinji could only wonder about the girl he would rescue and the girl he might never see again.

--

"How have the tests been on Unit-03? I assume everything is going smoothly."

"Yes, Commander. We received Unit-03 just a few days ago and is currently being inspected for any abnormalities, impurities in the LCL chambers, pilot-to-Eva synchronization compatibility, overall armor density, and whether or not any damages have been incurred on it's side trip to the Second Branch of NERV."

"Yes... aside from not having found a pilot in time for Unit-03's arrival, what other reasons are there for this untimely delay? It's been months since the last angel attack, they'll come soon."

Ritsuko tapped the clipboard with her index finger and sighed deeply. She was well aware of the fact that Mayumi was the original pilot of Unit-03 until Shinji had been abducted, and she also aware that Touji Suzuhara has already been chosen to be the pilot of the fourth Evangelion. It confused even her as to why the Commander spoke as if she knew nothing.

"According to our predictions, Unit-03 should be ready for an activation test within 76 hours."

The orange frames reflected the menacing dark armor of the Evangelion within the LCL cages. "Then make it so."

--

To be continued.

--

Author's Notes: Gahhh... it took so long just make the chapter this long. Sorry, but with college and everything that has been going on in my life, it's hard keeping up with my story. I won't stop, since I've already gone too far to do that, but no real work will be done until I get a break from school. Yes, I know, damnit! It's not my best effort, so bleh.

But, in order to still give something to people have read this, I will update in small bits... chapters will be significantly shorter, unless I come to a major event in the plot, which usually takes quite a bit. Of course, it depends on the feedback. If you want me to keep chapters long, then it'll be awhile, but if you want something more to read, well, it'll be short. Geh... contact me using Yahoo Messenger (it's my pen name) or through the review thingy.

Peace to the gods of the Earth!

_ XxRagnarokxX88 _


	4. Facing Fears Pt 1 Weakness, then Death

Disclaimer: I do not own the Neon Genesis Evangelion series or hold any rights over the character Mayumi Yamagishi, from the 2nd Impression game thingy. Don't sue, cause I'm already way past broke.

This is the fourth chapter of "Land of the Midnight Sun," the second book of "Catalyst," an NGE fan fiction. Enjoy.

**Land of the Midnight Sun**

**"Facing Fears: Part 1 - Weakness, then Death"**

_How easy it is to defeat people who do not kindle fire for themselves_

**-African Proverb**

By: XxRagnarokxX88

The blue and white map was placed on top of the other similarly colored scrolls. The complex and tiny printed passages filled with dark blue gaps and red X's seemed only readable by those who constructed the actual labyrinth.

All around the map the men gathered and took a deep look at the diagram, studying the sharp turns and long corridors of the multi-layered building. No one would remember more than a few twists and ladders, but it was more of a preview to what they had to prepare themselves for than a chance at memorization.

Shinji walked through the abandoned factory and sat next to Maiara as she complained about how empty the factory felt. He would have thought it uncomfortable to be the only woman in the room, but she seemed fine with the gruff and tall men in the room. He could only wonder why, since Kaji intimidated Mayumi with a single look.

"Hey, Maiara...? Aren't you uncomfortable being the only girl here?"

She smiled and shook her head, her short hair tickling his nose, drawing a light blush. "Noooo. Normally it would, but Wayra's over there with them. He wouldn't let them do anything stupid. Besides, they're here to see what kind of job offer we have."

Shinji looked at the ordinarily dressed men and scratched the back of his head. "Job offer...? What do you mean?"

"Mercenaries. Soldiers of fortune. You know; hired guns."

A small chill ran down his spine as the word soldier left her lips. "Soldiers... but wait, I thought me and Kaji were suppose to--"

Maiara chuckled and covered her mouth. "Awww, that's sweet Shinji. You'd be willing to go into such a dangerous place for that girl? That's adorable."

Shinji looked down at his shoes and frowned. 'That's adorable? I'm dead serious about getting Aiko back!'

"Hmm...? Oh, don't make that face, Shinji. I can understand how you feel, but this isn't some game. Sure, you know how to use a gun, and your learning to fight too, but it's different when someone has a weapon pointed at you too."

"But... Mr. Kaji said that I would have to--"

She cut him off once again. "Whatever Kaji might have said, he would never really put you in the direct line of fire. Shinji, have you already forgotten who you are? Your the Third Child."

Her continued stare forced the last words out of his throat. "... the pilot of Unit-01."

Shinji focused his attention towards the crowd and listened in.

"As you can see, the facility itself is considerably small on the surface, especially when you take into account it's importance, but that's not a problem. The only problem is how far this thing goes into the ground. It's a labyrinth that starts at the edge of the cliffs overseeing Los Angeles. It's burrowed about 1/4 a mile into the crust, portions of it actually poke out of the cliffs and overlook the ruins. Getting in by force will be child's play for you, but once your all in, the problem is getting out. We'll be surrounded by the Pacific and pretty hard sediment, not to mention the mini-drones I'm sure they'll have."

"Ah, those miniature-terminator-lookin' things. We need extreme high voltage weapons to fry that circuitry," one of the men shouted out.

Kaji smirked. "That- I will supply.

In the middle of the crowd of thirty or so men, the double agent poked his head out of the sea of hair and smiled at the boy. "And there he is! The reason why this mission is worth all our hides for. The pilot of Evangelion Unit-01, Shinji Ikari!"

All of the sharp, steel and bronze eyes directed towards the boy who's heart began beating faster than when Maiara's hair touched his face. The group of men neared the child, surrounding him and examining him.

"This is the Third Child? This is the person who's suppose to help us bring down the U.N.?"

"You gotta be bullshittin' me."

"This scrawny bastard...? He's the so-called Fated Pilot?"

"He couldn't be older than my boy! What's he doing piloting something like an Evangelion?"

"Third Child...? I thought he was Maiara's son!"

The vain in Maiara's forehead became visible. "I'm not that old, yaw dumb-ass bastard!"

Shinji sank into the bricks beneath him as the dozens of eyes stared down at him, judging every aspect of him. Luckily, it was Wayra who saved Shinji this time. "Enough!"

The mercenaries' eyes straightened at the harsh sound of Wayra's command. Slowly, he walked through the crowd of hired guns and stood next to Shinji. "Whether or not he is the Third Child or not makes no real difference. It's not like he has an Evangelion on him. Our objective is the retrieval of Aiko Yamagishi."

"Aye, I don't have any complaints about the mission, I mean, I'm getting paid plenty, but ah... what's so important about this girl?"

"We don't know," he said bluntly.

The crowd mumbled but no one objected to the mission objective. They only wanted to know in what way were they earning their green. One of the mercenaries stepped towards Wayra and said, "I make it habit of knowing who me and my men are shooting at and why."

The man stood at a slender, yet muscular, 5'9 ft, tall and foreign. His skin was as brown as leather, yet he was no darker than Wayra's complexion. The only thing that really made him stand out in the group was the large leather eye patch which covered about a fourth of his face.

Wayra looked down at the their leader. "Habits are meant to be broken."

Before there was a shoot out, Kaji stepped in between the two men, laughing nervously. "Now, now, there's no reason for us to fight. And there's no reason why they should be kept in the dark."

Shinji gulped at the rise of tension in the abandoned factory.

"Well, then, tell us why this is worth risking our lives. Money is only useful when we're still breathing, after all-- and how does this helps our struggle against the U.N.?"

Kaji cleared his throat and became serious. "About three months ago, Tokyo-3 was invaded by a small army; organized and too many in numbers to be a rag-tag team of mercs. Casualties on the civilian side was relatively small, but their deaths was well over a hundred. Now, setting aside the fact that Tokyo-3 has a natural barrier around it from all sides; that being the ocean, sea debris, mountains, and the concrete plains left behind by abandoned cities, how did they get so close without alerting UN sensors?"

The leader of the mercenaries looked down and to his left. A subordinate nodded his head and understood. "Around the time of Tokyo-3's invasion, there were three enormous EMP shockwaves, surrounding the city. From where or who, we don't know."

The leader turned back to Kaji. "Well, there's your answer."

Kaji scratched the back of his head and sighed. "Quite a guy you got there... In any case, the EMP shockwaves were about 4 clicks away on three sides around the city, close enough to knock out everything close to the city, but not the city itself, which is why they had an alert only once they breached the closest outskirts. All this, and two airborne units-- ones that could bust open a slug and an Evas eye. And for what?"

The leader snickered. "For some little dame?"

"It would seem so. Though, I doubt they got the one they wanted. Shinji."

Shinji looked at Kaji with wide eyes. "Huh...? Yeah?"

"Show them their target."

"Ah... alright." Shinji reached into his shirt's pocket and retrieved the small picture of Aiko he always carried with him. He walked in the middle of the crowd and showed them the picture. "T-This is Aiko... she's really short, about 4'0-4'2, I think."

The leader's eyebrow raised at the sight. "This...? An army broke into the Fortress City for this little brat?" His almost Irish accent grew thicker, "Got to be fuckin' kidding me, eh. What exactly makes her so special?"

Kaji shoved his hands into his pocket and looked at the factory's ceiling. "She's a potential Evangelion pilot-- Class 1 at that, if my sources are correct. And she's probably been kidnapped because she has a close relationship to another Eva pilot; Shinji here."

"So it's an exaggerated kidnap and ransom?" He said with an edge.

"So to speak. But my intel tells me that the original group that took her has lost on her transportation to A.E. counter forces."

"The American Empire has her now? Seems like a job for aces... The A.E. may not be what it use to be, but they're still no push-over. If I had to guess, I would say the retrieved the girl with their Navy sectors, their black ops and ghosts."

Kaji scratched his forehead. He knew that his old comrade was well-informed, so he would know the impact of his answer. "No, but good guess. They don't have nearly that many experienced men in black ops, especially ghosts. My sources say that they sent several mercenaries, teams from the northern parts of Russia and destroyed cities in South America for ambush and distraction-- making the men's history rather untraceable. They used black ops for retrieval of the girl."

"... Your serious? All that man-power for his girl?" His voice grew more and more disbelieving.

"Hmm," Kaji smirked at the well-hidden shiver in the man's spine, "Getting scared? That's not all. The tank destroyers. They were A.F. Unmarked, but I had my way of finding out. No matter how much power they have. The group that lost Aiko to the A.E. was simply outmatched in their unprepared ness."

The merc's face grew stern, along with his men.

Shinji put the picture back in his pocket and backed up towards Maiara, her own expression full of concern. "Umm, what's wrong?" he whispered.

Maiara looked at Shinji with pity in her eyes. "Once Second Impact took place, the whole world went to war, blaming each over economical turmoil, religion and other things like that. The A.E., or U.S. back then, used it's Army branch for Self-defense purposes, while it's Navy was led towards assaults and covert operations with black ops."

Shinji listened to what Maiara had to say, but he had heard the same from Kaji on the ride towards the city. "I know all that, but why's is tha--"

"-- No, you don't," she said sharply, "The branch that was still even considered completely functional after the global cease-fire, was the Air Force branch. Research of ground-based weaponry was stalled, and focused heavily on airborne weapons and defense."

The leader took over, his voice cool and collected. "Meaning that they took over the skies. Which is one of the few reasons that they still rank as a world superpower. He turned his attention back towards Kaji. "How do you expect us to go against that, eh? Infantry, we can shot. Tanks, we can blow up. Subs, we can sabotage and sink; but we ain't got the type of equipment to be shooting down jets and airborne fortresses. Helicopters, maybe; but jets are different."

Kaji smirked. "What if I could get you that equipment?"

The merc sneered. "What could you possibly get us to use against the A.F.?"

The spies plan became ever clearer to Shinji when Kaji spoke, with a all-confident smile behind his grin, "Haven't you learned not to doubt me, Vidar? The Jungle should have taught you that." The spy pulled out some schematics from his back-pocket and placed them on top of the other blueprints. On the new blue and white sheets were what appeared to be body-suits and strange weapons.

"What the hell are these?"

Kaji pointed towards the armor. "This is a new defensive armor to be worn by the ghosts of the A.E. They're fire resistant-- it'll start sweating at about the temperature that bronze melts, and tear-resistant. They can stop just about any blade a human arm can use. Despite the sleek design they are extremely flexible at the joints, and torso,-- Type V protection. Batman himself would be jealous."

Vidar scratched his chin. "Impressive. I'm assuming it's not something in large-scale production. Stolen, I presume."

Kaji coughed. "Recovered! I recovered these with some help. Along with a shipment of these suits while I was in the A.E. Got chased, but," he tapped his recent wound, "they didn't catch me, though they did do some damage."

The leader placed his hand on the weapons blueprints. "And what about these here?"

Kaji nudged Shinji to look at the blueprints. It took him a while, but it finally came to him. "This looks like the new positron rifles the Evangelions use..."

Vidar glared at Kaji. "Are you an idiot?! We can use something that big!"

"Calm down! Calm down! These have the same design, but they're nowhere near as big. They don't even fire the same thing! Look. The reason the gun is big is due to the large bullets-- rounds are armor-piercing."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah-- we're use to cannons, Ryouji. What makes this so special?"

Without skipping a beat, Kaji continued. "Each of these are delayed tracers." He raised a rather larger bullet from a small case inside his back pocket and held it up in the air. "Shinji. What are tracers?"

Shinji cut in, confused as to why he was being tested in such a tense scene. "Umm, tracers are special bullets that have a small pyrotechnic charge in their base--"

"Their delay is just enough for you to move when the enemy figures out where the bullets came from, and bright enough to blind night vision. Upon penetrating whatever your shooting the bullet releases a powerful electrical charge, that'll knock out most electrical signals, so it's effective even against tanks with a layer of electromagnetic shielding, so long as you can pierce the steel."

Vidar's subordinate took hold of the bullet and inspected it. "Heavy... too heavy for short-range fights. But if what he says is true... then these are something we'll need. But I don't see how we're take down warplanes."

"Planes...?" Kaji smiled, "Well, we have other things for that..."

[--[

Above them hung two test plugs, one a pale and almost rosy hue, the other a deep crimson. Both were identical, color aside, with the exception of a small name plate bolted onto the exterior of the cylinders.

The rosy plug had in large bold font the name "MAYUMI", beneath it said "DUMMY PLUG EVANGELION 2015" Below even that, in a smaller size, it read "Mayumi - 00" The other read as "REI - 00"

The pair below the plugs stared up at the objects with little interest. Ritsuko shoved her hands into the pockets of her lab coat and began her explanation. "These are the experimental dummy plugs. They've had Rei's and Mayumi's persona transplanted within, but... the soul itself cannot be digitized." She looked at the Commander out the corner of her eye, "It's a fake. Just a cheap imitation of the real pilot," she said with hidden meaning behind her emotionless words. "Just a machine that mimics their thoughts..."

"We'll send the signal pattern to the Evas. All we need is for the Eva to think it carries a pilot, and synch with that perception." The Supreme Commander of NERV turned away and began walking towards the two orange lights in the distance. "Input the data into Unit-01 and Unit-02. Do not place the dummy plug program into Unit-03."

Ritsuko followed the man as the darkness around her was dimly lit beneath her feet, large circular symbols and archaic patterns becoming more and more illuminating as they walked. "But... there's still that problem we observed in the tests..."

"No matter. As long as the Evas move, they can fight."

"... Yes, sir."

"The candidate for Unit-03 has been informed just a few days ago, and he'll cooperate so long as his sister is allowed NERV hospital care." The woman placed her hands in her lab coat once again. "He wasn't very optimistic."

"So long as he pilots it."

"We'll prep and run the start-up experiment at the Matsushiro base tomorrow, as soon as he gets out of school." The last word seemed to leave a bitter taste in her mouth. "Once he is enhanced psychologically, he should prove to be to be a sufficient pilot."

"Class?"

"Three."

"It's in your hands-- make him useful."

They stopped in front of two clear tubes beneath a system of beating and pulsating metal tubes and wires, lazily humming and moving every few seconds. The brain-shaped system of tubes lead downward to the two clear tubes.

Inside of the left tube floated a slim and pale girl with a blue mop of hair, eyes closed and breathing calmly. The right tube held a normal teenage girl with long sable hair, eyes closed and breathing slow and deeply.

As much as the good doctor tried to detach herself from her emotions when it came to work, she regrettably admitted she felt guilty about involving the young Yamagishi. Not due to her age or the fact she was human, since human experimentation is something she had to accustom to, but it was the guilt brought about by her affection towards Shinji that made those prickly pangs hit her throat.

The pilot who never knew what it was like to love and be loved in return, a feeling she could easily relate to, had found someone who accepted him, and yet there she was floating in a tube as if she were nothing but a lab rat. It grated her heart, but she had nothing but Project-E and a stoic man who only took her heart carnally, it was why she existed.

The man in front of her looked to the test tube to the left. "Rei. You can come out now."

The lissome figure opened her eyes slowly as the orange world around her bubbled as her breathing returned to normal.

His expression softened as nostalgic eyes appeared before him. "Let's grab a bite to eat."

The softened expression was not returned. "Okay."

Behind them, the good doctor noticed Rei's lack of enthusiasm, which had been missed by the Commander, and frowned at Gendo before she smirked. 'Seems like your doll has someone else... someone younger.'

[--[

It was such a scary thought. The thought of simply getting inside of that biomechanical monstrosity made icy chills run down his spine to the back of his knees.

How did Shinji gather the courage to sit down on that throne? How did any of the teenagers of NERV have the fortitude to sit inside those weapons taller than most buildings and fight against unknown monsters, destructive and deadly beasts who appeared from the skies, the seas, and the molten earth itself? It astounding.

So, even though someone as meek as Shinji could pilot an Eva, how could he not find that same strength? How was it that Shinji, the cowardly and quite kid in his class, could do it so easily? Kensuke had shown him the footage of Shinji's fights in the Eva; both from his camcorder and those hacked from his father's computer.

Was he a monster as well? No. He shook his head and disregarded the thought. As much as Shinji would try, he could never hurt anyone for no reason, not unless they threatened someone he was close to. But he raised no offense for himself. Shinji made himself into a shield to protect Mayumi, and Touji was sure that it was simply a shell before her.

Touji slumped back in his newly cleaned seat and stared at the orange sun receding into the horizon. "Maybe... I could do the same. Fer motivation or something like dat..."

Hikari raised her head from wiping the teacher's desk clean and gave Touji a confused look. "What did you say, Suzuhara?"

"Eh!? Uh, nuthing, nuthing. Just thinking out loud!" He got up from his seat and continued to rearrange the desk and wiping them clean.

Hikari finished polishing the mahogany tabletop and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Phew... that takes care of that... Hmm?" She looked back at the distance eyes of her peer and frowned. It was not often the jock had a look of anything other than a laugh or a smile, so it caught her attention immediately. "Uhh... sorry about having you stay for clean up duty again, it's just that I didn't feel right making Mayumi do it, I guess." She bit her lip.

He lifted his head and placed the final desk in position. "Nah, it's fine. She's got enough problems to deal wit." As he slug his bag over his shoulder to leave, he stopped and remembered Shinji's words. "Actually..."

Hikari gulped as he looked at his solemn expression. "Y-Yes?"

"Why don't ya just go ahead and just mark me down fo' her other shifts; starting next week? I'm pretty sure she must be tired and all after listenin' to the ol' man talk about Second Impact all the time."

Hikari looked at him closely, seeing if it was really him that stood before her. "Umm, y-yeah, sure. I'm sure she'll appreciate it." The act of charity was strange to come from someone she thought of as usually curt. "S-Suzuhara!"

The jock looked back at the girl before he left the door frame. "Yeah?"

"Ahh, ummm..." 'C'mon, Horaki! Asuka told you to be direct! Grow some... what was it? Cojones? Cagones? Whatever...' "Would you mind, I mean if it would be alright if..." Her breath caught in her throat, and her courage was lost. It was then that she noticed the large bag that he had slung over his shoulder was bigger than his usual one. "Ah, w-what's with all that...?"

"Huh? Oh, dis?" He raised the bag and frowned nervously. "Sorry, I gotta be somewhere. I'll see ya later."

She lowered her head as her heart sank with it. "Ohh... okay..."

Touji wasn't a complete 'tard, as Kensuke had once pointed out to the Class Rep, so he knew Hikari had a thing for him, but had a feeling that nothing would happen between them; someone as smart as her with someone like him. Besides he was now an Evangelion pilot, and his life was going to be on the line from then on.

It seemed strange to him that Shinji could keep a girlfriend whom he cared for and fight giant angels, knowing he could die and leave her. Was he crazy, or simply dense?, he thought randomly. "Hey, Hikari?"

She blushed at the use of her first name. "Y-yes?"

"Since your the class rep an' all, I might as well tell ya I ain't gonna be at school for a few days. I'll tell ya everything when I get dis all done. And after dat..." He forced a smile out of his frown. "... let's try to be friends, aight?"

Her blushed deepened. "Yeah. Sure."

Touji waved goodbye to the class rep and walked out of the school, and stepped inside of the black car waiting for him outside. Hikari looked at the car with deep suspicion. "Black cars..?"

[--[

Once the meeting was over, the mercenaries walked out back into the streets as if nothing had happened. One or two at a time, sporadically and in the shadows. Shinji and his other 'roommates' left the factory through the ceiling and returned home.

Each settled into their routine, pushing aside their meeting, or their plans.

Shinji followed Kaji to the rooftop yet again and sat next to him.

The streets were once again starting to fill with night life, both harmless and drunken fun, and violent and senseless dangers.

"Mr. Kaji... do you really think this is a good idea? I want Aiko back, but there has to be another way than just busting open that base."

The agent sighed at the boy's naivety and messed with his hair.

"Well, no matter how good I am at what I do there is no way I can just walk on in into that research facility unnoticed. It's well guarded. Security cameras, heat sensors, armed soldiers, mounted turrets are just a few of the things there, I'm sure. A large army of people could easily storm the place, but we'd just be sitting ducks once we trip the alarm and they send for back-up. And simply asking for Aiko back won't get us anywhere."

Shinji leaned against the door's frame until he slumped to the floor and hugged his knees listlessly. "I guess... but how are we gonna get all the money for the Mercs?"

"Hmm? Well, the world is tipping on the edge of war, no matter how the surface may look. It's only been a few years since Second-Impact and some parts are the worlds... the parts that aren't flooded at least, are still in the miserable state they were in when the ice cap was blown to bits. It's not hard to find people willing to support change. And I've already received funds from groups supporting our cause. Though, not likely for the same reason as us."

"In either case, what could that group of mercs do? They're just guns who point where they're paid to shoot. They're no different than soldiers of the U.N. or the A.E. when you really think about it."

"There may be some truth to that, but those men follow Vidar, and only him. And he hates SEELE more than anyone I know. Besides, these guys are pros with real life experience in combat and rescue missions from Japan, the U.S., before it became the A.E., and even Russia and China. Medics, Ex-Soldiers, and the like; all with something taken away from them by SEELE."

"I still don't know about them. And," he lowered her voice to a whisper, "aren't you working for them?"

Kaji smiled. "As a double-agent. They think I'm on their side, spying on NERV."

"And your not?" He said sarcastically.

"If you must be technical..." he laughed out.

"Mr. Kaji... rescuing Aiko... isn't your only goal, is it?"

The spy raised his eyebrow and grinned. "Getting her back is the favor I'm doing for you... and when the time comes, I'll need you to help me as well..."

Before Shinji could ask what Kaji might need from him, he hear Wayra's voice from inside the building, asking for him to come to the kitchen. "Hm. Wayra must want to practice again."

Kaji smiled at the boy. "Try not to bruise too easily."

He hung his head low and sighed. "That really all I can hope for."

[--[

NERV's new number one pilot had been taken, so, consequently, the Second Child took his place. 'How irritating,' she thought unhappily. 'He may have killed more angels than I have, but it's quality over quantity that's important! Every time he fights alone, his Evangelion gets seriously damaged or goes berserk! What a joke.'

With a sneer she tossed and turned in her bed, knocking her red blanket on the floor, draping against her leg and stomach as it slowly touched the floor. 'So why is this bothering me so much? Why? Why? Why!?'

Ever since Shinji's kidnapping, Misato had changed quickly for a few weeks, and then changed completely after a few months. She drank more, came home later, and ate at the NERV cafeteria, completely avoiding the TV dinners they were forced to stock up on. The only time she talked to Asuka was whenever they accidentally crossed paths and the incredibly awkward and loud talk given to her when she found out Mayumi had become the pilot of Unit-01.

Even Asuka herself couldn't believe how furious she was she when the news had reached her ears, from Mayumi herself, no less. That day, she had ran to Misato's office and yelled at her until she must have heard only high-pitched ringing. The only thing that stopped her from going on until the Major's ears fell off was when Mayumi walked into the room and tapped her shoulder lightly.

_"It's fine, Asuka... I know he wouldn't want me to, but if I can do what he did for me, then that's enough. He's out there somewhere, so I have to get the angels before they get him."_

She never hated Shinji more than she hated him at that point.

The redhead was never one to show any signs of pessimistic emotions, but she had leaked tears of anger after the synchronization tests. She forced herself to be calm and collected during the tests, but she couldn't be untrue to herself at home. Inside her room, she cursed the very existence of Shinji Ikari. He had such a grasp on Mayumi-- it was pathetic.

_'Why did she have to say such stupid things!? Why did stupid Shinji get kidnapped!? Why does that idiot still like him?! It just makes me so...' _"ANGRY!!"

She had let her furious tears dry themselves on her pillow before they fell on her cheeks that night. Her yell went ignored through the nearly empty apartment complex, echoing from the hallway to the alley below.

She had fallen asleep with misty tears, but awoke with bloodshot eyes. Her rising anger subsided as the sirens once again screamed their sorrow as the city covered it's buildings in flashes of piercing red.

"What the hell!?" Her brain was too worn for her to immediately comprehend the obvious, but it flowed into the back of her mind like a flood. "-- Angel!"

Stumbling out of bed she rushed out of her room and ran towards the door, ignoring the ringing phone. She slammed into the door in her haste, forgetting to turn the knob. Angrily, she shook the knob until she clumsily opened the door, hitting her ankle.

"Damn it! Wake up already!"

She quickly made her way down the stairs and waited impatiently for the black Section-2 vehicles to arrive. She caught her breathe painfully as the warm air of her apartment mixed with the cold and fresh air of the night.

It was then that it finally hit her. 'Angel attack... an angel... Mayumi's gonna go out in Unit-01!' The car screeched in front of her; she shook the worry and haze from her mind and entered the dark sedan.

Frantically she placed the seat belt around her waist and looked out the windows to see if she could see the angel from the car. Her left, her right; but she saw nothing but buildings in shade and red. She worried even more. "Where the hell's the angel! Those bastards are usually big enough to see from anywhere in the city!" She grit her teeth and held onto her belt when the car made a sharp turn.

The Section 2 Agent sped along the emptied streets of Tokyo-3, expertly dodging abandoned cars and minor obstacles, trying his best to get the pilot of Unit-02 to the cage. "The angel isn't inside the city, it's in the Matsushiro base on the outskirts."

The redhead watched as the city began to sink into the Geofront below them and an entrance appeared inside of a reinforced bunker for them. The car screeched into the small gap. The entranced closed and the floor beneath them sank into the underground front. Asuka looked at the pyramid structure and her heart raced.

"Where's Mayumi!? Where's the pilot of Unit-01!?"

"She's inside the Eva Cages."

The redhead bit her lip. 'She's too new, she'll just be in the way. And without the idiot here we only have myself and Ayanami to fight the angel...'

Her normal outer shelling of egotism cracked the more she dived into her true feelings. The fear she felt of fighting an angel with an inexperienced pilot, who would more than likely end up being a burden, and girl who's synchronization ratio had been dipping ever so gradually was strong and disheartening.

Once the elevator platform ceased it's movement, the gates opened. The car screeched down the tunnel and reached he surface of the inner-Geofront. Above her, Asuka could see the red lights still streaking the hanging city. The car spun to it's side and let the side the Second-Child sat on to face the entrance inside the Evangelion cages.

"Hurry up and get inside Unit-02. The other pilots have already entered their Evas."

The redhead jumped out the car and ran as fast as her legs carried her. She tore off her clothing as she reached the locker room and put on her plug suit in a hurry. Breathing heavily, she threw her hair back and pressed the button on her wrist to make the suit skin-tight.

"Damn it... it's too soon."

Her hands shook on the controls and her heartbeat gradually rose as Shinji's fights with previous angels rose from the depths of her mind. Bubbles popped and flowed out of her mouth as the LCL finished flooding the entry plug; and then it hit her, she was going to be fighting an angel. A real angel. The monsters which come in all shapes, all sizes, with many forms of destruction.

The sable-haired girl grabbed the controls tighter as she sunk into her throne. 'Just relax, keep calm and don't ever keep your eyes off of it... never...'

"Mayumi, try to calm down," stated Maya Ibuki, "your synchro-rate is regulated by your mental state. Stay focused."

The teen bit her lip. "Sorry."

Rei touched the sides of her entry plug and opened a direct line to Mayumi's Eva. She could clearly see that the girls disposition was not that of a trained pilot.

Mayumi sweat was visible on her forehead, despite the LCL.

During training, the Yamagishi girl had proven to be a well-rounded beginner pilot. Her shots were moderately accurate, her reaction time, thought slow at first, was acceptable, and her endurance in handling harsh and stressful plug conditions; a training program mandated by Gendo Ikari, was moderate.

Even still, despite the girls potentially great combat skills, she was still afraid of dying, and that was something Rei knew would keep her from growing.

'No matter how much they stress that a dead pilot is a useless pilot, Shinji saved me-- saved us all on numerous occasions by risking his life... I don't think that makes him a bad pilot...' Rei stared at her image and her chest grew heavier. 'She will be a burden, if only this time.'

"Inserting entry plug into Eva Unit-02. Entry complete."

Maya turned to Aoba. "Whose in charge here? I heard that there was an accident in the Matsushiro NERV base! I can only go so far as start-up procedures and Eva and Pilot conditions! I can'-"

"Don't worry," he said without removing his eyes from his monitors, "A lot of the staff at Matsushiro survived the explosion and are being brought to NERV right now."

Her senpai's safety came flashing through her mind. "Explosi--"

"Releasing primary lock-bolt for Eva Units 00-02!"

"We don't have all the info on the current situation; all I know is Commander Ikari is taking charge of this situation."

Maya's eyes grew wide. The Supreme Commander of NERV may not have been as great a tactician as the Major, but he was no fool when it came to strategy. "The Commander is...?"

Ominously, the Commander rose from the highest platforms along with Fuuytsuki. Sharp as obsidian, he ordered, "Prepare launch path near the west outskirts of the city."

"Release confirmed! Removal of umbilical bridge, confirmed! Moving Evangelions to respective catapults!"

Mayumi clenched her controls and took a deep breath. 'It's my turn to do for Shinji what he did for me. Don't mess this up!'

The Commander sat at the head of the Command Center and intertwined his fingers in front of him. "Launch the Evas."

[--[

Slowly his eyes opened inside of the deep damask haze surrounding him. He couldn't see well, just the red-grey cloud that fogged his vision. He tried to move his hand, but he couldn't. It felt weird, like it wasn't his. The sensation started at his arm, but quickly spread to his whole body. It was as if his someone else's consciousness had pushed itself onto his own.

'Wh-what dat the hell is this?!'

His eyes cleared and all around him he could see the walls of his entry plug lined with pink, pulsating flesh-like fibers. The tendon shaped, parasitic mass shifted towards him and stopped as his breath intake sharpened and his heart rate spiked.

Though his mouth was dry in fear, he screamed raspingly, "What da fuck is this?! What's going on!? Dr. Akagi! Dr. Akagi!"

The parasitic tendons extended itself towards the screaming pilot and covered his left leg.

Touji's eyes went wide as he felt a hundred tiny, even microscopic, pricks sting his leg. He tried to scream in pain again, but was stopped as tendons covered his mouth, almost threatening to go into his mouth.

Sweat poured from everywhere, covering his eyes and stinging them. But he couldn't close them, for fear that if he did, he wouldn't ever open them, choosing to shutter rather than blink.

Then felt something travel up from inside his leg, stretching towards his chest. Death seemed to choose a particularly gruesome demise for him, he thought. The microscopic tendons rushed up his blood stream and reached his beating heart. Panic, terror, and shock all overworked his heart, so much that the ventricles stressed.

The tendons escaped his veins by shooting outward. He bled out, as his pale face would show, but the tendons split and sealed the small tears with pieces of itself. Reaching around the heart, like a snake around a mouse, it pressed on the vital organ and normalized the speed by coating it in suppressants.

Touji gasped as he suddenly felt himself calm down as if nothing was happening. As if his body was once again not his own. "H-H-Huh...? The hells goin' o-on?"

The tendons let go of his heart and wrapped part of itself around one of his overworked ventricles before returning towards the leg. Needles seemed to leave his body as the fleshy, pink tendons sporadically covered his entire body again.

Around him he could see the entry plug reactivate. The sun was setting over fields of rice, near mountains and rivers. It could have made a beautiful scene had he not consciously raised his hands to inspect himself and saw his obsidian hands.

The it flashed through the back of his mind like a bolt of lightning. He was inside a berserk Unit-03.

_"Begin Primary Connections."_

_"Transmit pulse... Entry Plug secure."_

_"Psychograph position nominal. List cleared up through 1350, over."_

_"Roger that, 1350. First stage contact complete."_

Touji's eyes turned red at it's corners as the tendons wrap themselves around his limbs and attached it's other ends around his throne. He suddenly remembered why he was inside of an Evangelion. But his surroundings seemed so different from the plug he recalled.

Macabre and a sickening living. The walls once made of steel now seemed to breathe the damask haze in and out like a lung, while the fleshy claw that held him down seemed to beat as a heart.

His vision blurred and his eyes were once again not his own.

_"Control!" commanded the blonde doctor, "Authorize proceed to Phase Two!"_

He could see Misato and Dr. Akagi, along with several other NERV members in front of him; small and powerless against him.

_"Harmonics nominal. All neural links nominal. List clear to 2550, over."_

_"Absolute borderline... on my mark..."_

_His eyes left the doctor and Misato and turned a full 360 degrees and faced himself. Like a mirror, he could clearly see himself inside of Unit-03, a false apathetic disposition pasted on him while he gripped the controls tightly._

_"... Mark!"_

_He felt his other self start to gag on the LCL as his heart skipped a beat, and his current 'self' turned his eyes another full 360 and flash white._

"Agh... ack!" Touji tried to free himself from the tendons, which only tightened their hold, when he felt the rage of the parasite take over him. "I didn't do it! I didn't-- Auughhh!-- I didn't kill them!"

He screamed inside of the entry plug as the memories flashed through his eyes once more, not knowing if they were even his anymore.

_"Status report!"_

_"Abnormality in the nerve center!"_

_Ritsuko took command. "ABORT! Cut all circuits!"_

_The pilot felt something pop off his back. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered. He could see himself pass out inside of the Eva as the strange fleshly tendons pierce through the back end of the entry plug._

_"Abort failed! Repeat! Abort failed!"_

_"High energy reading from Unit-03!"_

_He felt a painful and yet terribly relieving feeling as the back of the Evangelion's neck opened to reveal the angel's true form. A parasitic bug with a faceless, bulbar head._

_Misato's eye's shot open. "It's an angel!_

His eyes shot open once again, stinging from his heavily sweating body. The only thing he could thing of, aside from what was trying to take over his body, was if his Eva had just killed hundreds of people.

He looked up to see that the parasite, now Angel, had left the front of the plug and had completely taken him and his throne, leaving the visual field clear. Dread came over him at the sight before him.

One to his right, one to his left, and one in front of him; the three Evangelions. At that moment, he forgot of who dwelled inside those mechanical beasts, but he recalled Kensuke's footage of the three Evangelions in action against Angels, and that he was inside such an Angel; part of it.

[--[

Inside the Commander Center, the tension was high. Aoba and Hyuga had scanned and rescanned, but there was no mistake in the MAGI's judgment. The looming figure against the disappearing sun was both Eva and Angel.

Hyuuga looked up at the Commander. "Pattern confirmed! It's orange! It's an Angel!"

The Deputy Commander frowned. "I knew it. An angel has probably infected the Eva on transport." He opened his cell phone, his call immediately answered. "Have the plane used in transport of Unit-03 and all equipment quarantine!"

"Send the emergency deactivation signal! Force eject the entry plug!" shouted the Commander.

The back of the Onyx unit's neck opened up only a few feet before it was stopped by tendon-like claws.

"Negative! Signal Rejected! Plug is jammed in Unit-03!"

"And the pilot?"

"We're still receiving biometric telemetry! But... he's probably..."

Gendo took in the information. "Unidentified moving object is not to be classified as Eva Unit-03. Object is now identified as hostile target; an Angel. Destroy the target!"

The crew looked at the Commander with great incredulity. None could have foreseen an order to bring down an Evangelion hours prior.

The crop fields were lit up by the multiple helicopters floating high above the four Evangelion's heads. So numerous their numbers was it almost seemed the field was beneath a forest in summer, scattered and manifold beams of sunlight dancing on the Earth below.

Mayumi looked at the onyx Evangelion, nervous as lights focused on top of it, giving it's face an ominous and dreadful appearance.

Not only was this her first fight, but it was against another Evangelion; an intimidating one at that. While her Eva stood in the shallow fields, where the Eva's foot was barely soaked in water, rifle in hand, she thought of how the other two pilots seemed more confident. Their dispositions were as rigid as stone, but their nervousness could be seen in their eyes, well-hidden.

A vid screen opened to her left. It was Asuka. "Mayumi. Your going to be our back-up, while me and Wondergirl try to take it down. Just aim and pull the trigger when you have a shot without me and Rei within range, got it?"

She nodded her head and gulped. 'This is it... my chance...'

Asuka grit her teeth and looked at the Evangelion as it stood silently inside the triangular attack form. The shock of seeing an angel-infected Eva was enough to shake her off her game, as well as being led by the Supreme Commander, but the idea of someone being inside of the angel left a blizzard in her stomach.

Unit-02 raised it's progressive partisan and took it's stance. "Attack it simultaneously, Wondergirl."

Unit-00 withdrew it's two progressive knives and held them, blades pointed outwards in it's clenched fists. "Understood. Best to neutralize it's arms."

Asuka already knew the Commander wouldn't prioritize the pilot's life, so all she needed was an opening so she could rip the entry plug out. She didn't trust Ayanami with that information, but she knew Rei wouldn't go for a strike for the plug; most likely the limbs to immobilize it and wait for orders.

"All Eva Unit, neutralize the angel!"

The time to strike came. Unit-00 and Unit-02 rush towards the Eva. The dark Eva bowed it's head to the Earth and pierced the ground with it's arms. The partisan reached near it's left shoulder and the knives nearly reached the right shoulder, but both stopped as night's hands shot out from below and took hold of the partisan's shaft and Unit-00's first striking arm.

Rei and Asuka stood in silent shock as Unit-03 growled lowly at the weak attempt to subdue it, then tore the field beneath as it withdrew it's arms from the ground. "What...?!" they stammered in unison.

The Evangelion looked forward and fell on it's knees as bullets ricocheted off it's armor. It let go of the weapon and arm as it raised it's AT field, pushing the two units aside. Viciously, it swung it's now free arms towards the purple Eva.

Be it the sudden adrenaline evoked by fear or the slowing of time before near-death experiences, Mayumi could see the arms rush towards her and the menacing look the angel gave her under searchlights; and it frightened her beyond her senses. 'I... I can't do this!'

"Mayumi!" Asuka watched as the powerful and elastic arms wrapped themselves around Unit-01's legs and dragged it towards itself. Unit-00 and 02 ran towards the dark Eva. "Shot it! Shot the damn thing!"

Unit-01 raised it's rifle, but dropped it as one of the arms let go of it's legs and slapped it away. Mayumi clutched the controls and moved wildly as the feeling of helplessness overcame her. "Ahhh! Help me! Help me!"

Once the Eva drew Unit-03 close enough, it jumped on it's arms and punched the giant mecha in it's face. Mayumi coughed inside as she felt an invisible force knock her senseless. More and more blood leaked from her nose with each strike. "Gah-ah! Ugh-help!"

"Pilot's heart-rate has become erratic! Cranial damage has exceeded tolerable limits! The pilot's life is in danger!"

The Commander watched the scene in what seemed indifference. "Cut pilot's synch with Unit-01 and activate the dum--"

"Let go of her!" Asuka's war cry cut through the Commanders order to activate the dummy plug, bringing a twitch to his eyebrows.

Unit-02 drove it's partisan deep into Unit-03's shoulder. "Let her go, you bastard! Ayanami!"

Unit-00 slashed at Unit-03's arm, burying it half-way, then stabbing the other into the chest plate. Still, the 'angel' kept slamming it's fists into the purple Eva's face.

'I promised Shinji... that I would...' Unit-00 grabbed Unit-03's shoulder and nicked the progressive knife's handle, slicing the arm off.

Unit-03 howled angrily. It knelt forward and then rocked backwards, throwing the two Evangelions off of it. It leapt like a frog behind the trio.

The Commander relaxed his fingers and thought the situation through. 'It would be unwise to activate the dummy plug once the pilot's life is no longer in danger. They are watching.' "Start cranial osteopathy to lessen the tension on the pilot's head. Check for cerebrovascular damage!"

Maya turned back at the strange order. "But, Commander, her synch ratio isn't high enough for the damage to physically manifest! The trauma should leave her wit--"

"Do not question my order! Just do it."

"Y-Yes, sir...!"

The crown of Mayumi's throne split open and covered her head gently. "Agh, ah... my head... my no-nose... my whole face hu-hurts..."

"Ugh!" She clenched her fist at the missing partisan. "Damn angel!" She gripped the controls and forced her Eva to stand. She screamed out, "Where the hell did it go?!", in her daze.

Unit-00 crouched near Unit-01 and grabbed it's rifle. It knelt on it's left knee and aimed at the infected Eva. It's leap was impressive, she thought as she opened fired.

The angel grabbed the mountainside road and pulled itself towards it, avoiding being perforated. Using it's only arm, it grabbed the partisan embedded in it's shoulder and extended it's arm into the sky, spinning the blade, and slicing a few of the helicopters shining their light on it.

Rei looked at the direction of the mountain, but couldn't see the angel. It then hit her. "It's using the cover of night..." She turned on the Eva's night vision, bathing the world in green, white and black, but it was too late; she was sideswiped by the partisan's shaft.

Unit-00 fell as it's abdomen was violently struck. "Ahh!"

Unit-02 grabbed the angel's by it's arm, not hesitating, and crushing it's forearm. "I'm sick of this!"

The angel swung it's limp arm and missed Unit-02 as it ducked. Underestimating it's stretching ability, the arm swung across the angel's back and threw the partisan's blade into Unit-02's clavicle.

"Aahhh! God, damn it!" Asuka rubbed her own clavicle as she felt a knife burrow inside her bone. "Why won't you die!?"

Unit-02 grabbed the partisan's shaft above the blade and snapped it off, throwing the blade to the fields, splashing water as the last vibrations came. Rei's Eva picked up one of it's progressive knives and attempted to stab the head.

The knife pierced the limp hand as it was held in front of it's face. The angel shoved the knife deeper into it's palm, compressing it's crushed forearm, and pushing Unit-00 onto the fields.

The angel slammed it's palm into Unit-00's arm. The angel growled menacingly as it's forearm melted and dripped onto Unit-00's arm.

Rei's eyes shot open. "Ahhhhhh!"

"The angel has invaded Unit-00's left arm! It's penetrating neural nodes!" shouted Maya.

The Commander looked on from behind his folded fingers. "Sever the left arm!"

"But...! The neural link's in place! She'll fee--"

"I don't care. Cut it." The vein in his forehead was in full view. "Now!"

Unit-00's shoulder lit up at the joint before the arm was blasted off, cutting off the angel's attempt at merging.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhg!!" Rei clutched her right arm as she felt every nerve in her shoulder simulate an explosion inside of her.

The arm flew across the fields and crashed on top of the rural homes, sending giant splinters through the night sky.

"Unit-00 pilot is injured! Moderate damage to Unit-00 has rendered the pilot incapable! Rescue squad! Stat!"

The Commander switched sights from Rei to the newest pilot as the split crown left her head and retracted back into her throne. "Yamagishi! Fight, your Eva is still fully operational."

She grabbed her head with both hands as the world focused and tears seeped from her eyes at the blinding spotlights. 'Shinji! Where the hell are you?! Come back! Come back...!'

"What's wrong? Why are you just laying there on the ground?! Get up and fight!"

She collected her breath and forced her Eva to stand on it's feet, it's bent knees reflecting it's master's composure.

The angel jumped off of Unit-00 and headed towards Mayumi. The nervous pilot watched as the beast turned in the air and kicked her towards the mountains and the poorly built homes upon them.

The angel landed on his three limbs and it's stump. She willed the Evangelion to it's feet once again and saw the entry plug caught in a web of fleshy tendons on the back of the onyx beast's neck. 'An entry plug! That must mean...'

Her eyes opened wide as the angel leapt forward. Her Eva raised it's arms to shield it's face, but only managed to weaken the blow as the crushed forearm and stump hit her Eva's head repeatedly. "Ahhh! Stop it!"

The sub-commander looked the vital signs of the pilot. "Her vitals are unstable! Lower her synch rate to forty percent!"

"Wait!" the Commander cut in, "Yamagishi! Why are you only defending yourself?! The angel is weakened, and the other pilots are unable to help."

Mayumi didn't respond, but only continued to huddle in her throne as the angel continued to attempt to crush her Eva's head.

His eyes sharpened behind his tinted glasses. 'That angel part of her... must be used for something other than keeping her alive.'

"Fight, or consider yourself kicked out of Tokyo-3!"

"I don't care!" Blood seeped from the side of her mouth, tasting of bitter copper. "What the hell do I have left here anyway?!"

"So be it." He folded his hands as the crew below waited anxiously for orders, unable to act in a situation where all three Eva units are incapacitated. "Your usefulness extends as much as my son's at the moment."

Mayumi's eyes forced opened, tears floating up in the LCL as Shinji's father used his son disappearance to torment her.

A vid screen opened up to Mayumi's right. "Mayumi! Snap out of it and fight! Your going to die if you don't!" Asuka winced at the pain of her aching clavicle, closing her eye as sweat in her eyebrow made it to her iris with a painful wink. "Grab the entry plug! Behind it's ne--"

The screen disappeared when she heard a crack from above her resonated in the night sky, then searing pain as she imagined her eye sink into her skull. "AGHHHHH!!!"

"Left eye of Unit-01 has been shattered! Pilot has lost consciousness!"

Mayumi slumpt on her throne as she sank into the depths of her mind.

'Enough is enough. The useless girl didn't even activate her S2 organ.' The Commander grit his teeth behind his folded hands. "Activate the dummy plug system."

Maya would have questioned the Commander, but all three Evangelions had already been downed. There was no other choice.

Behind the unconscious girl's throne, humming emanated throughout the cylinder.

"We have reception of signal... control switchover complete!"

"Nervous system now linked to dummy system."

"Emotive perception at only 56.7 percent... monitoring is impossible."

"It'll do." The Commander pushed his glasses forward. "Release the system. Commence attack!"

The Evangelion's right eye shone red as the dummy system took over the downed Evangelion. The enraged unit moved it's arms away from it's severely dented head and caught the angel's stump, crushing the onyx Eva's arm with it's hands.

With little effort the Eva pushed the angel to the fields. With mammoth-strength, Unit-01 pulled the arms apart until the shoulder joints snapped.

Asuka looked at the sight in front of her, clutching herself inside the kneeling Eva in pain. "What the hell is that?! That can't be Mayumi!" She tried to open communications. "Mayumi! Mayumi! Can you hear me?! Mayumi!"

She turned to her right to see Rei holding her shoulder in agony inside her own defeated Eva. "It's no use. We c-c-can't... can't open a link." Her breathe was ragged and harsh, but even still the irony was not lost on her. NERV had done more damage to her than the angel itself.

The enraged beast roared into the night, the sound moving the small brush and helicopters alike nearby. The helicopters shone down on the scene in the Eva's moment of beastly instinct, like a lion before it's kill. It grabbed the angel by it's neck and swung the now defenseless creature towards the mountainside highway, devastating the pass and burying it's head in the earth.

Gendo raised his eyebrow. 'This isn't...' "What is the status of the dummy plug?"

"I-It's active, sir! Emotive reception down to 54.39!"

His glasses lowered on his nose as he took his usual position, his curious eyes still hidden in a sleek orange. "Give me a visual of the pilot."

"We can't! All visual connections are offline!"

The purple Evangelion grabbed the limp arms and placed it's right foot on the angel's back. With tremendous strength, the angel's armor snapped at the shoulders, exposing flesh and bone. The popping sound of muscle and bending, stretching bone resonated in the nearby valleys until the arms snapped off the body, spraying blood and leaking marrow on the raised land.

Maya looked on with immense horror, no longer fearful of defeat and Third Impact, but in fear of the power of the Evangelions, and how little control they really had in the Command Center.

The only ones who could truly ride the Evangelions, ever hold the reigns of such warhorses, were the children in them.

"Ah-gugh! Mghh!" Maya clasped her hands over her head as the carnage hit the back of her mouth. At the moment, there was nothing more terrifying than the thought of depending on those metallic monsters.

Gendo's eyebrow twitched again. "Cut the power to the dummy plug and begin synchronization with the pilot of Unit-01."

The abort signal was given to the dummy plug. Causing the Evangelion to stand still, looming over the angel as it's leg swung pathetically in an attempt at retaliation.

Visual was restored. Inside they could see Mayumi. Her forehead was covered with her blood, floating around the LCL, and her hands clutched the dual controls with white-knuckle force, despite her lack of consciousness.

"Visual restored! Vital signals confirmed! Heartbeat above average, but tolerable. Mental stability... confirmed!"

Gendo looked at the girl as sense filled her eyes. 'It seems it already does more than keeps her alive...'

"Mayumi! Mayumi!"

The girl turned to her right to find Asuka, flinching with a worried concern. "Asuka...?" The sable-haired girl slumped on her throne, releasing her tense hands, and lost consciousness.

Asuka looked at Mayumi's form. 'At least she's alive...' She attempted to stand, but her own pain was excruciating. "Damn it..."

The Commander's voice boomed inside of the pilots' plugs. "Quickly. Dispose of the angel."

Rei looked at the Commander and back at the angel, it's head still buried in the mountainside. Asuka could not move, and the rescue team was already en-route.

Almost reluctantly, she withdrew her progressive knife, ignoring the pain in her arm and forced her Eva to limp towards the downed Angel.

"Ahh... Ah--..." She limped towards the Angel as the helicopters' lights made a line for her to tread, all the while wondering if Shinji would have ended up as badly as her.

She raised the progressive knife over the angel's neck, heaving as her vision blurred.

The Commander watched. "Destroyed the angel."

Rei looked at the entry plug and regarded the Commander's orders. She could not disobey him, but she wouldn't kill the pilot either. She stuck the knife into the mountainside, pulled out the entry plug and placed it near Unit-01's downed form.

Gendou pushed his glasses forward as Unit-00 picked up the progressive knife once again and stabbed the entry plug's insertion area, ceasing it's movement.

With a slight cringe in his interlaced fingers, he stood up as the MAGI declared the Angel destroyed, and left the Command Center.

[--[

Shinji leaned his head back, avoiding the uppercut. He quickly lowered himself into a crouch, fingers spread as he placed both hands onto the grass.

Wayra followed his movements and guessed his path.

The boy pushed himself forward and aimed his fist towards the man's stomach. He stumbled as the man shifted to his left and hit the side of his face with a short jab. "Ugh!"

Shinji caught his balance and returned to face Wayra with both fists up, spitting as the numb feeling spread to his tongue.

"I know you can move faster than that, boy." He shuffled forward and took a fast south paw towards the boy's chin.

Shinji dodged to his right, dropped to his chest and punched the man in his stomach. The man clasped his hands together and slammed his fist on the boy's head, dropping him towards the ground. "Ghn! Ah... damn it... my head..."

"Aww, c'mon Shinji!" cheered the maid, "Wayra's not that tough! You can do it!"

Shinji picked himself up slowly, only to be kneed in the gut when he was on made it onto one knee. "Agh!" He landed with a soft thud as he was lifted off the ground.

"Your enemy will not wait for you to regain your senses."

Shinji grabbed his stomach and jumped upward, shuffling backward as he raise his fists again. 'How the hell am I suppose to hurt the guy! It's like he's made of iron!'

From the rooftop, Kaji looked downward into the backyard. He took a deep huff of his cigarette and laughed to himself. 'He's getting better. But still, I think Wayra's taking it a bit too seriously.'

'He's strong, but I can move faster if I really try. And I can use my legs better.' Shinji ran towards the man, straight into his dominant arm. He dodged his right arm, grabbed it and used it as leverage to kick the stoic man's chin, drawing a cheer from Maiara.

The man stumbled as his teeth clacked. Without missing a beat, he threw Shinji across from him and shoved his knee into the boy's chest as his feet hovered over the ground.

"Hmm-- gck!" He landed on his back and drew in the bitter air into his aching lungs. "Aghk!" He coughed his pain away and rolled backwards, avoiding the man's stomp and, using the roll's momentum, kicked off his heels aimed a roundhouse to Wayra's head.

Wayra leaned back and attempted to hit the boy on his head, only to have his arm grabbed once again.

Shinji pulled him backward and placed his foot against his stomach as he fell on top, tossing him over him and rolling back onto his haunches. Wayra landed on his feet, despite the unexpected burst of strength from the boy and slammed his back against Shinji's stiff form.

The boy fell and stayed on the grass as he felt the air leave his lips. "Ahh... ahh... ahh..." Everything hurt, but seeing an impressed Kaji whistle at him from the rooftop made him grin.

Maiara ran towards Shinji and dropped to her knees as she pet the boy. "Wow, Shinji! I didn't expect that."

Wayra walked to his side and folded his arms. "Not bad. You managed to lift me from the ground," he turned towards his home and walked away," I'll expect even better next time."

Shinji huffed and cleaned the sweat off of his forehead, smiling a smile Asuka had once called him stupid for having. "Yeah..."

"Heeeeyyy... you've gotten stronger, huh?" She lifted the boy's shirt and poked at his developing abdominal muscles. "You've even got some baby abs, hmm..."

Shinji blushed and shoved his shirt back down. "S-Stop it! It hurts, alright!"

The woman smiled at the boy's shyness, even after the months they've lived together. "Ehehe! Awww... look! Your hair's all sweaty, and stuck to your neck, too. Gross." She took off her thin, black hair band and lifted Shinji's head onto her knees, and tied the boy's hair back. "There, that's better."

Shinji looked up at the girl, mesmerized by the smile that seemed so familiar. The wind blew strongly, moving Maiara's hair into her eyes. Without thinking, he stroked the hair away from Maiara's face towards the back of her ears. Her face, in his worn eyes, became smaller, younger, and her eyes, a deep russet.

Maiara looked at Shinji as the knock to his face surely got to him. She covered his eyes and smiled.

Shinji came to his senses and blushed a deep red. "Ah! Mai, I'm sorry! I- I'm just really w-w-worn out an- and..." He stopped as soon as he could see her laughing through the gaps in her fingers.

"No, no, it's fine!" She smiled, placed his head on the grass softly, and stood up. "She must really be special-- to keep your attention even after so long. Most guys stray easily."

Before he could apologize again, she followed Wayra with a slight hum in her lips.

He looked up at the tree that laid a shadow over half his face and sighed. "I'm tired."

[--[

"Get some help over here!"

"Squad three, delete the date around 807... hurry!"

Her heavy eyes flicked at the lights that surrounded the crater-sized basin, twitching at the residue of dust and a warm night's air. 'Huh...? Where am I...?'

Misato looked around her, piecing her location like a puzzle in between the times her eyes could stay open and when they weighed far too much.

"Squad four, enter the shaft and destroy the Cage!"

'Cage...?' She let the slow and steady breathes soothed her aching chest as the word sank in. 'Cage... Eva... Unit-03? That's right... there was an angel inside...'

As soon as the menacing, glowing eyes of the obsidian Eva reached her conscious, she shot up from her gurney, flinching as the stabbing pain reached her abdomen and sternum. "Ah!-- Hey...! Hey!" She shouted for any one close by, asking for someone's attention like an ill child. "Someone! What happened to Unit-03!? Hello!"

One of the many medics came by, saluted his major and stand at attention. "What is it you, ma'am!"

She flinched at the throbbing ache, but turned to face the nameless NERV employees. "W-What happened to Unit-03? Did it go berserk?! What happened to everyone here?"

"Ah, I'm not really sure, ma'am! We were just told to rescue all survivors of the explosion at the test facility in Matsushiro."

She sneered at the lack of information. "Well, what's NERV doing about the Eva? Do we know where it is?"

"Umm, I'm not sure, ma'am." he flinched under her impatient glare.

The anger in her chest rose at the ignorant twit. "Well what in the hell do you know, huh?!" She grabbed the medic's collar and pulled him close enough to smell the copper in her breath. "Get me someone who does know! We can't just have lost a Eva in the blink of an eye!"

"Y-y-yes, ma'am! I'll get someone immediately!" He fell to his heels as the pressure on his neck released. He scurried off, away from the dark-eyed major.

Misato coughed until she felt better, accidentally spitting the red-tinted saliva onto her boots. 'Damn it... calm down... NERV wouldn't inform anyone who didn't need to be, anyway. What the hell was I thinking...?' She laid back down in the gurney and contemplated under the searchlights. 'Berserk... that would actually be convenient... it read as an Angel... it must have infected Unit-03... if it is then...' her eyes opened wide, "Mayumi!"

[--[

Shinji sat down against Maiara's bed and looked at the ceiling. He ached all over, but that was no different from any other day in his life as a pilot or runaway.

The moonlight hit the girl as she snored away contently in her slumber. Shinji looked at the slight drool at the corner of her mouth and smirked sadly as the corners of his memory where pricked out by images of Aiko. He wiped away the drool and cleaned his hand on his shirt. 'Hmmm... I wonder if she's okay right now...'

Throughout the whole time he stayed in Wayra's home, there wasn't a night he didn't worry over the girl's safety. NERV wouldn't retrieve her-- more appropriately, his father wouldn't care for the girl's life. He knew nothing certain of her location, just intel from Kaji, which always had a chance of being wrong, or twisted for other's benefits.

But he was there. Training to shot. Training to fight. 'Why...? To infiltrate a research facility... does this mean... I'll really have to kill someone?' He bit his lip and let his head lean on Maiara's bed. 'I kept telling myself I would if it meant saving her... but...' He stretched until he felt a crack in his neck and went limp against her bed.

"... it's been so long since I've seen either of them... any of them." He ran his hand through his hair with a heavy sigh.

From out of nowhere, he heard steps on the roof. Light and carefully placed away from potential weak points. Shinji got up walked out of the bedroom, silently locking the door and running up to Wayra's room.

Shinji placed his hand on the doorknob to make sure it wasn't him. Locked. He walked down the small hall towards the stairs leading to the roof and stared at the open hatch. Someone was inside.

The boy cautiously hugged the walls on the way downstairs into the kitchen. He grabbed the largest knives he could find and held it's back underneath his fist, outward. 'If my fists can't reach him...'

Creaks were heard on the second floor. He leaned against the wall and looked at the stairs. No one in sight. Each step was taken carefully, exchanging his weight whenever he heard his own step. Reaching the top he saw a shadow move from the ladder to the roof.

If he stuck his head up, he would be defend less against any attack. His heart began to thump louder and louder in his chest, and the knives became heavier in his sweaty palms.

The moonlight snuck through a window at the end of the short hallway. It would be bold, but it was better than getting his head blown off.

Without hesitating anymore, he opened the window and snuck onto the first roof. The boy leaned in an alcove between Wayra's room and Maiara's room, giving him a good view of the rooftop. He could see someone starring off at the ground with a cigarette in one hand, and what appeared to be a sandwich in the other.

Shinji sighed and jumped onto the rooftop.

The agent raised his eyebrow, his mouth full. "Wha isf if, Mr. Imari?"

"Mr. Kaji, what are you up here? Isn't it bad for you to move around with those wounds?"

He swallowed his food and took a huff from his cigarette. "Can't smoke inside, so I thought I might enjoy myself outside-- and I had a bit of craving for some of Mai's left-overs."

Shinji looked down and looked at the spot in the sky Kaji looked at. "... is that the only reason your out here?"

"Well, not entirely, no. Though when I do get a chance to see Way, I always make sure to eat her food as much as I can." He took another bit of the flatbread, slowly. "Misato used to do it, but they always tasted burnt," he added with a smile. "I was actually hoping you'd be awake, or at least hear me coming to the roof."

"... ah, I guess they did..."

"What are you doing over there? Sit."

The boy walked over and sat next to him staring up into the sky while Kaji looked to the streets beneath them.

"So, what can I do for ya, Shinji-my-boy?"

"Mr. Kaji... it's been months since we've arrived here... but... we haven't done anything to get Aiko back... and... all I do is train... I know you said it's..." he felt the crack in his voice as his question soon turned to whining, "that it's for self-defense, but from who? We talked to those mercenaries... they said they'd do the job, so why waste time? huh? I don't understand..."

The man sighed subtlety. "It's a matter of time. We have to be careful."

"I-I know! b-but... she could be hurt! What if... what if they're torturing her?! She could be dead for all we know!"

"She's not, Shinji. Trust me."

He clenched his fists, as he would clench his controls. "B-t... but why?! If they were gonna do all the work, why am I here?!" Kaji continued to looked down as Shinji stood up abruptly, his voice muffled by his outburst. "What am I doing here?!"

The older man stood up, casually with slow intent. "Trust me, Shinji. There are times that... your Evangelion won't save you. That Deus Ex Machina... what makes you feel like you can take on the world for Aiko or Mayumi-- it won't save them every time."

Shinji grit his teeth as his lecture grew thin on him. Was he angry? No, not completely. Resentful? or was he just afraid? He could not sort it out.

"Occasionally, Shinji," he slowed and deepened his voice to show his seriousness, "you have to fight as mortals do." He took his final bite with a big gulp.

"I can do it! I don't need my Eva!"

Though his wounds had not fully healed, the agent knew the boy had no chance. Wayra went easy on him, and was barely able to hit him a few times. "Alright." He stood up and stepped on his cigarette before jumping from the roof and grabbing a thick branch, and landing on his feet. "Prove to me that your not all talk. You want to rescue Aiko so badly? Then beat me, with your bare hands."

"But... what is fighting with you gonna do?!"

The words echoed into the house and surrounding strangers would stared and walked away as quickly as the comment was said. Shinji followed the agent to the grass below.

Seeing that Kaji made no effort to respond, or even move, he clenched his fist. Shinji swallowed a lump of nervousness. "You brought me here for a lot of reasons Mr. Kaji. But you said you'd help me find Aiko. These mercenaries... are they really going to get her?!"

Kaji sighed. It was too early for him to learn the full truth. "Alright. I'll tell you everything, if you can knock me to my knees."

"I don't want to play these games anymore! Just tell me already!"

Kaji pressed his right foot forward into the ground.

All he wanted was to know when they would get Aiko back, but he never got a direct answer. Realizing he wouldn't get one now either, he rushed forward and swung his right fist recklessly.

Kaji smirked and ducked, moving his right foot back and pushing off the ground, slamming his knee into the boy's stomach, his hands now in his pockets.

Shinji fell backwards, white lights spreading over his vision. 'What...?'

Kaji looked down at the boy and grew ever more serious. "Wayra is much stronger than he lets you see-- and I have always been weaker than him. He became a slave at a former concentration camp in the U.S. during Second Impact when survivors were gathered and tested for compatibility with the prototype of the Evangelions."

The boy looked up as the words sank into his memory, not too surprised by the stoic man's rough past.

"It's not a surprise that tensions in the camps were high. Especially for one of the last remaining natives of North America. In the camp he found another like him. A miracle really."

"Maiara...?" he guessed by the similarities in their appearances.

"Yes. He protected her from whomever and whatever came at them. And, at one point, collapsed fighting against a group of people who hadn't seen a woman in weeks."

Shinji swallowed his anger and looked away from Kaji.

"We're facing a secret organization who've been leading countries into it's grasps, not just to save Aiko, but all the millions of people whom they've harmed and killed. And if you keep acting like a spoiled child, you'll fail once again as well."

Shinji bit his tongue to keep his tears at bay.

"This is no game. You can die: Stabbed, shot, blown to bits, crushed, tramped, starved, and many other things. This is the reality of the world outside of Tokyo-3. Your guaranteed shelter is gone now, Shinji," the spies eyes soon grew softer, but did not lose an ounce of their intimidation. "Outside those walls, I can't guarantee your life."

Shinji bit his lip and sat up, his right knee protruding higher than his low-hung head. He looked up as he saw the hand in front of him.

"So, get up. We've got work to do."

[--[

Water, transparent and gold. The moon, too, was glowing in that same yellow transparency which reminded her sulfur and sunflowers. The humming that had plagued and suffocated her ears was now gone; and so was the pain in her head; the emptiness in her left eye filled with prickling sight.

'I couldn't... do anything...'

The LCL drained from her plug, leaving the golden moon to disappear as the cooled LCL shot out of her plug and to the farmer's fields below. The world spun, then suddenly stopped as everything seemed right again.

'Why did I even get in here...?'

The hatch opened, bathing the throne with silver light. The remaining helicopters separated in the dying night sky, their searchlights glowing like fireflies amongst the russet nails and ruddy fingers of Dawn, heading towards the three Evangelions.

Mayumi covered her eyes and her waist as the gravity of her failure hit her. Tears streaked her face, and sobs shook her frail frame. "Shinji... I'm so sorry..."

[--[

To be continued.

[--[

Well, after about a year or so I've finally updated a chapter that, in all actuality, I've just left lying in my computer without uploading-- my bad. I lost interest with this story as soon as I got to college and started doing stupid things, but now I'm focused with school and such, as well as with this dusty project restarted under the guise of practice for my creative writing class.

That said-- I don't really like this chapter. But every time I looked at it, it annoyed me how I couldn't get to the events past Unit-03, so I'll leave it as is, giving my all to the next chapter. Lucky you, 2 or so remaining readers, I'm assuming.

Along with the next chapter, (or the one after that, I forget at the moment) will be a separate story, not entirely independent, but readable without knowing the plot of Catalyst dealing with Mana Kirishima.

Next Chapter: Facing Fears: Part 2 - Sayonara, Nameless City.

Side-Story: Princess of Subjugation.


End file.
